Aftermath
by SPNWizard
Summary: Tony doesn't like to emerge from the Avengers Tower after the events of the Civil War. He feels like he's worthless and doesn't deserve to be saved. However, when Tony's kidnapped by Hammer Industries everything goes downhill. Leaving behind encoded messages, Peter races to save his mentor but he's gonna needs help. Will Peter be able to reunite the Avengers in time to save Tony?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everybody! Thank you for taking the time to click on this story and giving it a shot! This is my first ever story on this website so I hope I'm doing this correctly. I'm sorry if the writing seems poor at first, it takes me awhile to get into the zone before it gets better. Anyways, this is an idea that's been going around in my head for awhile and I finally decided to commit to writing it into a story. I'm new with the ratings and genres so please point out if anything is wrong. Thank you! I accept feedback with open arms. Enjoy. Here's the full Preview:**

 **Tony hasn't set foot outside the Avenger's Tower since the Civil War. Sure, he's helped Peter with a few things, but those hardly counted since it was for work. He's not going to lie, he's a mess. He lost his family, he lost his best friend, and now he was completely and utterly alone.**

 **When Tony is kidnapped by HAMMER Industries, Tony knows this will be the end of him, for he knows Justin's out for his head. Leaving behind hidden messages that signify his goodbyes, Tony's ready to accept his fate. However, Peter Parker is not ready to say goodbye to his mentor.**

 **On a last ditch effort, Peter manages to contact a certain eye-patch agent who assists him in gathering the Avengers. In a race against time, the Avengers, along with Spiderman, rush to save their friend before they lose him forever.**

* * *

It's been close to a year since the Civil War. A year since Tony betrayed the trust of his friends, his only family he had left. A year since he beat the crap out of his best friend. A year since his best friend didn't choose _him_.

Some people may think it's childish to be mad at your best friend for choosing someone else instead of you, but for Tony, he lost everything. He thought he was doing the right thing by signing the Accords, but in the end he was dead wrong. He's always wrong. It seems to always come down to the fact that what Tony thinks is the right thing is really the wrong thing. The team was right. He did drag all of them down.

Now there was nothing that he could do that will allow him to make it up to them. He stabbed them in the back, hell he _fought_ against them. He divided the team in a way that can never be forgiven. Former comrades had to battle against each other and it was his fault. Then he went ahead and got them all imprisoned. Yeah, he was to blame there as well.

Sure, he admitted his faults when he went to go seek out Steve's location, but even then he saw the betrayal in Clint's eyes. When he went to that abandoned compound, Steve looked hostile until he admitted his wrongs. He could've sworn he saw the flicker of relief in his friend's eyes as they made a truce. It wasn't that he trusted Bucky, but at least he knew that Bucky wasn't responsible for the King of Wakanda's death.

Then that damn HYDRA bastard went ahead and revealed that Bucky was the one who was responsible for his parent's death. He didn't care about Howard's death, hell he was waiting for that man to meet his end and stop the abuse he enacted on him and his mother. It was his mother's death that got to him. She was so sweet and innocent and she didn't deserve to meet her end like that.

Seeing the footage made him go off the deep end, he won't sugarcoat it. He saw red and he just attacked. One second he was fighting Bucky and in a blink of an eye he was fighting Steve. It broke his _heart_ to fight him. His childhood hero, his friend... his maybe _more_ than friend. Then Steve chose Bucky and everything that Tony thought they had, but didn't have, shattered before his eyes.

It ended with a broken suit, Steve dropping his shield and Tony all alone. After managing to pull himself from the rubble, Tony went back to the Tower. Not the compound, but the tower. He didn't want to go back to see his friends, he didn't want to face them after something like this. He went back a few times, helping Rhodey with his physical therapy and giving him his brand new invention that helped him walk. It wasn't enough to stifle the guilt, but it was enough to put a grateful smile on Rhodey's face and Tony figured that was progress enough.

Then Peter came along and Tony felt devoted to the kid after what had happened. Peter's idol was Captain America and Tony had persuaded him to fight against the guy. So Tony did what he did best, he built the kid a suit and got him started on his own heroic journey. Tony became his mentor, his friend and most of all, his father figure. Even though Tony knew it, he didn't like it because he felt like he didn't deserve such praise. This was his fault, his mess and he didn't have the courage or strength to make it right.

After the whole Peter fiasco, Tony shut himself out from the world. He didn't leave the Tower unless it was strictly for business only. He spent his time cooped up in his workshop, working non stop on projects that haunted his mind and kept him so preoccupied he didn't have to go to sleep and face his demons. Even in his dreams, Steve's words still echoed clearly in his mind.

 _"He's my friend."_

 _ **So was I.**_

He had nightmares, he barely slept and he barely ate. Hell, it was unhealthy, he knew it was unhealthy. He refused to see anyone who stopped by and he just retreated into his little shell that the team coaxed him to put down so long ago...

The only thing that he didn't return to was drinking. He wanted to and he was tempted to, but Steve made him promise a few years ago that no matter how hard things got, he would never abuse alcohol again because he was too precious to the team. He wanted to break that promise, but he respected Steve's wish and his logic behind it.

It didn't stop him from picking up the bottle and having a glass or two. I mean, Steve said not to abuse it and he certainly wasn't going to let his good liquor go to waste. It cost too much.

There was one night, however, where he picked up a bottle of scotch and took a few sips, contemplating whether or not to just chug the whole bottle and forget his sorrows. Instead, he got up, picked up the bottle of scotch and just smashed it against the wall. He was done being an alcoholic. Those days showed his cowardice and he was stronger than this. He wasn't going to hide.

It didn't stop him from losing enough weight to make a few people worried. Pepper for one. He might've pissed Pepper off enough where they were done for good, but Pepper was one of his closest friends and that would never change. Pepper cared for him too much to let him go that easily. Didn't mean it wasn't a stab in the heart to find out that she was dating Happy. Tony didn't know whether to be relieved or devastated about how fast she moved on.

Don't get him wrong, he was happy for her, but it still hurt. Pepper was happy and he could never find that happiness or carefree attitude the she possessed. For that, he envied her.

The phone that Steve had left him was sitting on the counter in the far corner of the workshop, far enough away for Tony to fight the urge to give in an call. Hell, the only thing that stopped him was the fact that he knew he was psyching himself out. Steve wouldn't answer, he was probably pissed at him and Tony couldn't blame him one bit.

He lost everything. He lost his team. He lost his friends. He lost his family. And most of all, he lost something that he knew he might never get the chance to have again. A sense of home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to everyone who read the first chapter! I'll try to keep the updates consistent, but I can't have any promises. Luckily I'm in Summer Vacation right now so I have time on my hands, but it depends on the fact of how quickly the story comes to me. Here's the second chapter and this is officially where the story begins. I'll try to make the chapters as lengthy as possible, but again I'm a new writer so the length may come in time. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated and highly recommended. I always love to hear what you guys have to say! If you have any ideas for a cover/story ideas feel free to PM me. I'm always open to recommendations. Enjoy!**

* * *

For Tony, the day started out just as every normal day would've started. Well, normal to him, that is. He was tinkering away in his workshop, drinking coffee like a madman and once again, he stayed up through the night. If Pepper were there, she would've kicked his ass, there's no doubt about it, but Pepper wasn't there and no one could stop him from doing what he wanted. His house, his rules. Is it unhealthy to stay up for three weeks straight while running on no sleep? Probably. Did Tony give a crap? No, not really.

He's confined himself to his workshop ever since Peter's whole Vulture fiasco. He needed a break from the world and it's injustices. Sure, he still went out as Iron Man if the world really needed him, but Spiderman's in town and now New York has its new hero. Tony wasn't complaining, his age was starting to show and honestly, he didn't want to deal with all the emotional crap anymore. That might sound selfish to some people, but Tony was a selfish person.

He's been through hell within the past year, but it's hell that he's brought upon himself and he really can't deny it otherwise. It all started with that stupid Accords and he despises the whole damn thing. Why did it ever have to surface? It brought up chaos and conflicts among the team and Tony wished that it never had to happen like that.

He's not justifying his actions, there was plenty of blame to go around, but there was a lot of blame that was put on himself. He locked Wanda away in the compound like she was a prisoner, but she wasn't. In the back of his mind, Tony reasoned with himself, saying that it was for her own protection, but he was just lying to himself. What he did was treat Wanda like a prisoner and nuisance to the world. He didn't mean to make her feel like that. No, Tony truly cared for Wanda and even saw her as a little sister who he just wanted to protect.

If he could go back and change everything, he would. Now it was too late and Tony had to face the consequences of his actions.

The day went by pretty fast with Tony working away on projects that he hoped the team would accept one day when they came back together, even if it was without him. He built Clint new arrows along with a new bow that Tony thought would suit the archer better than his old one. Not to mention the fact that Clint might need a new one because Ross had confiscated and destroyed his old one. Then he went about and built Natasha a new suit that was more flexible and also some new gadgetry that he'd rather not go into details about. He made some new stuff for Wanda, Bruce and even T'Chala if the Black Panther dared to accept it. A few hours later, he found himself working on something for Peter. It was the kid's birthday in a few weeks and Tony wanted to give the kid something special. After saving New York from a crazed birdman, Tony felt like the kid definitely deserved a little surprise.

It wasn't until late that evening when Tony found himself staring at the scratched red-white-and-blue shield in the shadowy corner of the workshop. It has sat there every since Tony had brought it back from that fight. It wasn't the first time he was lost in thought while looking at the shield, he's done it quite a few times, actually. He didn't really know why he kept finding himself staring at it, it could be for various reasons, but he really didn't want to admit those reasons to himself. He was too ashamed to.

Standing up from where he sat at his worktable, Tony walked over, grabbed the shield, and then walked back over to the table and placed the shield down before him. He still didn't know what exactly he was doing, but he fixed up the shield to its perfection. He even added in a few of his own improvements as well, not that he'd ever tell Steve that. _If_ he got the chance to ever tell the super soldier, that is. He didn't have to do it, but he felt obligated to. Not because he wanted forgiveness, but because if this was something he could make right, then he wanted to do at least that.

He must've dozed off while working on it because he was suddenly startled awake by a loud smashing sound upstairs.

He was instantly on alert. "FRIDAY?" He glanced at his watch. It was three in the morning.

"There's five intruders upstairs, sir, shall I sound the alarms?" The AI's voice replied quickly.

"No" Tony sighed. "If it's five goons I can take care of it." Tony summoned his armor and he flew through the ceiling. Okay, he wasn't really thinking, but oh well. He blames it on the lack of sleep and caffine.

He landed in a kneeling position with his fist on the ground and as he stood up, he slowly looked around the darkened exterior of the Tower, the only glow coming from his suit.

Once he was up straight, he held his repulsor out, ready to shoot first and ask questions later. "Show yourself."

There wasn't a response. It was _too_ quiet. Walking further into the room, he stopped dead in the center of the living area. There was a split second of utter silence before Tony spun around, shooting up at the second floor railings. A body fell to the ground and weapon fire broke out. Now, it would've been different if it were just gun ammo that deflected off the armor, but the enemies' weapons shot off some type of electrical pulses. Tony shot down three of them before he fell to the ground; his armor deactivated from the pulses shot at him.

"FRIDAY!" Tony barked.

"System Reboot failed, sir. I'm afraid whatever was in those guns has disabled all the suit's functions," FRIDAY's voice replied in a static tone.

It was only a few moments before Tony felt something very tiny and very sharp pierce his suit and then his back. In a matter of seconds, darkness greeted him and he knew no more.

* * *

 **So this is a few days early and I decided to post it anyway since quite a few people were looking forward to the next update. As I said before, there should be a new chapter at least every week. That's a maximum of seven days. Don't worry, if the new chapter is done before then, I'll post early. I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! Sorry if it was kinda heavy with hurt!Tony, I sometimes tend to go a bit overboard :P. I'm not the best with descriptions when it comes to fighting and stuff so sorry again if it was kinda abrupt. I'll get better :-) the best way to improve writing is by continue to write. Thank you to everyone who read my last chapter and for all the reviews I got! I'm excited that they were all positive! Don't worry if you wanna write a review with some constructive criticism, that's sometimes the best reviews to get because they help you improve. Sorry if there are any grammar errors, I read through this a bunch of times, but it's hard to notice something sometimes if you don't have another pair of eyes to read it before hand. Anyways, I'll stop rambling. One last thing though. Do you guys want me to leave you some discussion questions in the future while you wait for an update? See you next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

Tony really hated waking up in strange places. It brought back memories that he really would've preferred stayed buried in the past. It was easier to fake a smile that way or create a convincible façade that he still wore everyday. However, just like everything at that moment, the world seemed against him.

Letting out a slight groan in pain, Tony blinked open his eyes and he would've thought they were still closed because of how dark it was. He didn't know where he was, but his gut was telling him he had a pretty damn good guess of who brought him here. While his eyes took time to adjust, Tony slowly became aware of the fact that he couldn't _move_. He panicked for a second, thinking that maybe he was still in the ruins of his house. He felt his breathing become labored and he took a moment to compose himself.

 _You weren't in Malibu. The mansion is gone. There was no explosion. The Tower still stands._

Again, he doesn't like facing the past and for a plausible reason.

When his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, Tony finally registered that he was tied to a chair and he was in some sort of confined space. Sure, the ties held down his ankles and wrists, but he couldn't feel any of his limbs and it was freaking him out.

The door at the top of the only flight of stairs that was in the far right corner of the room opened, sending in a flash of bright light that burned through Tony's subconscious and he recoiled at the sudden change in his surroundings. It only lasted a moment though. Coming down the stairs, his captor held a small lantern, which he set down on the table and it was only then that Tony caught a glimpse of who the person was.

"Justin Hammer." Tony ground out through gritted teeth. "I wish I could say that I was surprised. What happened? Thought you were long gone. The FBI get too boring for you?"

Justin turned around to face the billionaire. "Good to see that you haven't lost your wit." Hammer walked up to him.

Tony scoffed. "Please, it's one of my charms. Now, quit it, I'm blushing."

There was a moment of silence before Justin chuckled darkly. "You have no idea how long I waited for this moment."

"Wow, you really missed me that much?" Tony deadpanned.

"Tony, Tony, Tony," Hammer chided amusedly. "You and that no mouth filter is gonna get you into trouble one of these days." He smirked. "Oh, wait, I forgot, it already did. Tell me, Stark, how's the company nowadays? I heard your team's on an… _extended vacation_."

"And they didn't invite me? How rude of them," Tony retorted before he could stop himself. He took a moment to try to struggle in his chair, but his limbs failed him. "What the hell did you do to me? Did you slip me a roofie or something?"

"What? The numbness? It'll go away soon. Couldn't have you waking up and kicking the shit out of us, no," Hammer laughed. "That'd ruin all the fun." He walked over to a table that held various instruments. From what Tony saw, they definitely weren't the musical kind of instruments either. "And trust me, we're just getting started."

Tony rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Hammer? An apology letter? Didn't Happy mail one to you?"

Justin shot him an exasperated look over his shoulder, "Everything's a joke to you, isn't it?"

"Pretty much."

He walked back over to the genius, holding a scalpel.

"You know, I'm sorry, I don't think this is working out," Tony eyed the scalpel. "You see, I don't get this close until the second date. In fact, I don't play well with others in general."

"Tell me the location of the Avengers and I'll consider letting you go," Hammer held the scalpel to his cheek.

"Nah, I really don't think I will," Tony replied. "You see, I'm not entirely convinced of your proposal. Where's the part where we exchange our vows?"

Hammer drew a very faint line in his lower jaw with the blade and it made Tony hiss. "Wanna try again?"

"Now that's where you got things all wrong. You're not getting anything from me. Besides, you said you'll _consider_ letting me go. I think you need to go back to kidnapping preschool, buckaroo."

Hammer's eyes darkened. "What happens if I say please?"

Tony just blinked and stared at him incredulously. "Really? Please? Is that the best you can come up with? On the other hand, the answer to your question? No. Either way, Hammer, let's just face it. You're just gonna hold me here anyways. Wherever _here_ is."

Hammer growled in frustration and walked back to the table and set down the blade before walking over and punching him straight in the face. "I always hated your lame jokes."

"Lame? I'm offended!" Tony gasped. "Excuse me, mister, but I'm the master of witology."

"That's not even a word."

"It is in this genius brain of mine."

"Fine, I'll just have to take the alternative route," Justin sighed before turning back towards the stairs.

"And that route is what?" Tony raised an eyebrow at the man's back.

Justin turned around with a devilish smirk. "They'll come for you eventually, Tony. Until then, I just have to bid my time and be patient."

Tony barked a humorless laugh. "You do realize that plan is just going to backfire in your face, right?"

"Why, because you think they'll take me down. I've got one thing that they don't have, Tony."

"Oh, trust me, I know that you're a ticking time bomb. I've known that before I found out about your little partnership with Vanko. It's just, there's a flaw in your plan. No one's coming for me, Hammer. Didn't you hear about the whole Accords fiasco? The team's done. They don't give a crap about me and honestly no one does. I'll rot here if I have to, but if your big plan is to draw them here… well, I'd scrap that because you'll just be waiting for something that never happens. I'm expendable. Since day one that's what I was. They have their own geniuses that can give them crap that I couldn't dream of giving them, so why the hell would they come for me?"

"You really don't have faith in them, do you?" Hammer frowned.

"I have plenty of faith where it counts. I have faith in knowing that it'll be a relief for them to say goodbye to Tony Stark. It'll be a relief for _me_ to say goodbye to this world. My time has come, Hammer, I sense it. You got me exactly where you want me and I know you're out for my head. So tell me this, why not just finish what you started a few years ago?"

Walking up the stairs, Tony heard a deep laugh. "Because the fun's just begun."

The blinding light came form upstairs once again before Tony was alone in the encasing darkness.

* * *

 **This chapter felt a little weird to me, in a sense of maybe it was kinda rushed and a little too short. I'm past my weekly deadline though so I'll probably rewrite/edit it eventually. Anyways, thank you to everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed Aftermath, it's a really neat experience when you're writing your first few stories on this website. Anyways, please please review, I love to hear your feedback/constructive criticism and it helps me improve and it'll make this story even better. Also, quick question. Do you guys want me to give you a little opportunity to be a little creative with this story? (Not a completely interactive thing I'm gonna stay in control of the plot since I already have it planned out, but I need a few ideas with the encoded messages so I can give you guys a little bit of a run down of how those will work if you wanna try to create one yourselves and PM it to me) Anyways, I won't do it unless you guys give me feedback on whether or not you want it. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

It was an early morning in Queens, New York. It wasn't only due to the fact that the sun was rising at five thirty in the morning, but because an hour before the sun breached the horizon found Spiderman chasing down some car thief who was armed with a gun.

Peter Parker's life isn't what one would call normal. In fact, there was nothing normal about it at all. When you get bit by a radioactive spider and are given arachnid abilities, well you can practically say goodbye to an apple pie life.

As he swung from one building to the next, Peter wasn't entirely sure if he was awake at that moment. Don't get him wrong, his eyes were open and his body was moving, but he was god damn _tired_. Not to mention the fact that he's only a fifteen-year-old kid, but he's a teenager who's got school in three hours and he's running on two hours of sleep. The streets were busier than normal last night and he was so busy that he basically passed out until his amber alert went off at four the next morning.

He didn't wrap up the job until five fifteen and by then, he knew that any chance of going back to sleep was crushed. His school started in two hours and he's got _so_ much homework to do. He's already fallen behind in a few of his subjects and he really needed to get his grades back up before Aunt May pitched a fit. The last thing he needed was to be grounded.

Swinging back into his room, he changed out of his uniform and quickly stashed it away where he knew it would be safe from prying eyes. He scribbled down some random answers in his homework, took a shower and walked downstairs just as his aunt finished making breakfast.

"There you are!" Aunt May greeted him with a smile. "I was just about to go make sure you were awake. You sleep too late again?"

"Yeah," Peter lied sheepishly. "Stayed up too late doing homework."

Aunt May frowned, "Peter, I thought you said that you didn't have any homework. That's why I let you go over to Ned's after school yesterday."

Peter winced. "I'm sorry, Aunt May. We were working on a… project. A science project that's due tomorrow, in fact."

Aunt May didn't seem convinced, but she accepted his answer as she placed down a plate full of eggs, bacon and sausage. "Eat up. Your bus arrives in ten minutes."

Peter immediately dug into his breakfast and sighed in contempt at the amazing food. "You're like the best chef I've ever had, Aunt May."

May chuckled, "I'm glad you think so."

Ten minutes later and Peter was sitting on the bus, his hood up and he dozed off. It wasn't until someone shook his shoulder that he jolted awake.

"Come on, dude, we're here," Ned's voice broke through his sleep-filled mind.

"Wha'?" Peter rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Pete, you feeling okay, man?" Ned frowned.

"Late night," Peter shrugged. He stood up and they walked off the bus.

"Another late night?" Ned asked when they were out of hearing range.

"I don't know, man, it's been busy out on the streets lately," He shrugged.

"You think it has something to do with the Avengers being disbanded?" Ned inquired.

"Maybe, I don't know. I haven't heard from Mr. Stark either. I called him this morning, but it went straight to voicemail. FRIDAY was even unavailable." Peter scratched the back of his head. "I don't like the feeling I'm getting from that. It's like something isn't right."

"You think something happened to him?"

"It's a possibility. Honestly, though, I don't think so. He's been really… out of it lately." Peter sighed.

"Okay, so, what're you gonna do? Do you need another cover?"

"I can tell Aunt May I'm going over your house after school again. If she asks, say it's for a science project that is due tomorrow. I think I need to pay Mr. Stark a visit to make sure everything is alright."

"I got your back, man, whatever you need." Ned nodded and the bell rang a split second later. "You going to make it through Mrs. P's lecture today?"

Peter groaned in agony. "I don't know. Last time I fell asleep and Flash drew a mustache on my face."

"All the more motivation to stay awake," Ned laughed.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh away," Peter snorted, but it was amused. "Just know that if you fall asleep, I'll be the one drawing a mustache on _your_ face."

* * *

It seemed like it took forever for the final bell of the day to ring, signifying the end of another school day. Right when the dismissal bell sounded, Peter was out of his seat in an instant and he made a beeline for the exit doors. Walking down a few blocks and hiding in the shadows of an empty alleyway, Peter put on his suit and started his journey to Manhattan.

Arriving at the Tower, Peter immediately got the sense of dread that he always hated getting. It meant something bad had happened.

He landed on the flight pad just outside the main room, several stories up in the building. Walking into the living room made his blood run cold. Couches were overturned, glasses in the kitchen were shattered, there was a giant hole in the floor and the railing on the second floor was broken. What scared him the most was the blood on the floor.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter called out. He didn't receive an answer. Running through the tower, Peter searched every room on the main floor and second floor but had no luck. "Mr. Stark!"

There was absolutely no one there.

"No, no, no," Peter stuttered. "This can't be happening."

He quickly made his way down the workshop. The door was wide open and that itself was unusual.

"FRIDAY?" Peter shouted urgently.

The AI wasn't there to answer either.

"KAREN, search the tower for any life signs." He had a feeling he knew the answer already.

"There are no signs of anyone else in the Tower," Peter's AI responded.

"Can you at least tell me what happened?" Peter demanded hysterically.

"I'm sorry, Peter, but I am unable to do so. Something is blocking me from accessing the security files." KAREN replied.

 _Oh, god, I need to call someone. The authorities… the Avengers… S.H.I.E.L.D? I need to call… Wait a moment. What the hell is that?_

He stopped dead in his tracks. In the corner of his eye, there was a very small and very faint red light that was blinking. Focusing on that light, he could've sworn he heard a barely coherent chirping noise. If he didn't have his enhanced senses, he wouldn't have noticed it. Walking over to the small crack in the wall, Peter looked inside, only to have something bright flash in his eyes and the wall expanding to a compartment sized space. Inside, a small device laid inside. It was the size of a post-it note, but it was definitely a functioning Stark device.

Carefully taking the device in his hands, Peter pressed the blinking light and the screen switched to one that said PASSWORD. The keyboard provided looked complex, covered in a variety of dots and lines.

"What the hell?" Peter wondered aloud.

A small slip of paper came out of a thin slot at the bottom of the device. Peter took the paper. There was a message on it.

 _"I want you to be better."_

Peter frowned. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

* * *

 **Anyone else see Spiderman Homecoming yet? I did. I thought it was a really good movie, however parts of it were kind of slow and other parts kind of seemed a little rushed. However, I liked it a lot more than the Amazing Spiderman franchise. I think it was because Peter Parker finally had the nerdiness he has in the comics (Nothing against nerds, I'm a nerd/band geek myself and I'm proud to be one :P) And he still has that wit to him when he has the mask on.**

 **Anyways, feedback is always welcome and highly encouraged. Thank you to everyone who favorited/followed/read last chapter.**

 **What did you think of the ending, was it kind of weird and a little rushed? What do you think the message will lead Peter to? See you next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Gosh, Wisdom Teeth surgery is the worst. I'm sore and icky and ugh... Anyways, after three, almost going on four days of bed rest, I'm losing my mind and I decided to go ahead and write this. Guess what, I made the deadline! I don't know how I did it, but I'm happy :-) Thank you to those who wished me a speedy recovery! I'm getting there, it's not really painful, just really sore. My jaw's stiff too, but the doctor said it was normal. Anyways...**

 **Okay, this took a lot longer to write than I thought it would. I was planning to see if I could post this last Sunday (the day I wrote that AN) but that didn't happen. It's not exactly writer's block, but I've been playing around with a few ideas as to how this is going to go, so I've been writing multiple drafts of this chapter to see which one I like the best. I'm still sort of debating, but I personally liked how the draft of this chapter developed.**

 **I want to thank the people who reviewed, I love reading them!** **Keep it up guys, I love to hear what you've go to say!** **Thank you to everyone who favorited/followed: Welcome to the Aftermath family :-) And also thank you to everyone who keeps reading all the way through, it means a lot to me!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"KAREN, what can you tell me about this device?" Peter asked.

"It appears to be some sort of encrypted messenger. I can confirm that it has indeed been built by Mr. Stark himself." The AI responded.

"What about this message?" Peter wondered aloud, mostly to himself. "Is it some sort of clue or something?"

"If I may speak, sir, it doesn't seem like a clue at all. It sounds as if he's saying goodbye." KAREN voiced.

Peter stood stock still in the middle of the room for a moment, digesting what his AI just told him. He refused to let go so quickly. He got out his phone and dialed 911.

 _"911, what's your emergency."_

"Hello, my name is Peter Parker and I'd like to report a possibly kidnapping," Peter stumbled over a few of his words in fear.

 _"The place?"_

"Stark Tower. I-I came here for my internship with Mr. Stark, but when I got here the place was trashed and there was blood on the floor and no one was there..." Peter started to ramble.

 _"Calm down, kid, authorities are on their way."_

Peter hung up and ran out of that place. No way was he going to expose his true identity just because of this. Also, he needed time to see if he could sort out the device he'd found. If the authorities managed to get their hands on it, Peter felt like he might lose his chance of finding some sort of clue as to where Tony went or who might've taken him. It wasn't like the billionaire to run off like that, let alone after being confined to his Tower for the last few months.

Anyways, this might've been a good call. The authorities can work on their own investigation while Peter works on his. They've got professionals who have dealt with this sort of thing before. Peter was only a fifteen year old teenager with no experience with this whatsoever. Maybe with two people working on this, they might find something useful.

Or this was a bad call and Peter just jeopardized any sort of chance he had of finding Tony Stark alive. He really hoped that wasn't the case.

As Peter swung back home, he allowed himself to get lost in thought.

Who would want to kidnap Tony Stark? Okay, that was a stupid question. Peter guessed that there were multiple people who had beef with the man. What Peter didn't get was why didn't he call for back up if he was attacked? Were his systems disabled or did he get cocky again and decide to fly solo? Peter just wished Tony trusted him more, especially after stopping the Vulture.

It took almost a half an hour for Peter to climb through his bedroom window. He quickly changed back into his Peter Parker clothes and hid the Spiderman suit.

He went out into the main room, "Aunt May?"

There was no answer. She was still at work. That was good news for Peter at least, that meant he could get to work without being interrupted.

Peter went back into his room and went over to his desk, setting the device and message down before sitting in the chair.

He spent a few hours trying to figure the device out, but he still didn't make too much progress. On a positive note, he concluded that the keyboard was in Morse Code, so that was helpful to say the least. Why Tony made the keyboard that way was beyond him. Plus it was so freaking small! Peter had to use a _toothpick_ just to hit the right letters. Why did Tony have to make the device so _tiny_? Seriously, it was the size of a _post-it note_!

In the end, Peter decided not to question it. Tony probably had his reasons or he just wanted to annoy the hell out of his intern. Peter was going for the latter. Tony always did things like that.

Moving on, Peter tried typing in multiple things into the device, but the password kept coming up to be incorrect. He tried his name, Tony's name, all of the Avengers' names, he even did Pepper's birthday! (Don't ask him how he knew that.) In a last ditch effort, he typed in the message, but all that did was end up getting him in more trouble.

He must've typed in too many wrong passwords because suddenly a message flashed across the screen. It said: _"WARNING: The next wrong password will make this device explode."_ Peter didn't find that amusing at all.

He picked up the little slip of paper.

 _"I want you to be better."_

His mind flashed to his conversation with Tony after the Ferry incident.

 ** _"I just wanted to be like you," Peter admitted guiltily._**

 ** _Tony just looked at him in disappointment, "I wanted you to be better."_**

Maybe KAREN was right, maybe it was a goodbye message.

 _Wait a second,_ Peter thought. _If this was a goodbye message, then did Mr. Stark know someone was after him?_

Before he could try to find reason in this situation, his phone rang, startling the shit out of him.

Peter picked up the phone, "Hello?"

 _"Dude, did you see the news?"_ Ned's voice came over the other end.

"No," Peter frowned. He walked into the living room.

 _"It's about the Stark Tower. It's been ransacked, man!"_

Peter turned on the TV, where a reporter was standing in the ruins of the Tower.

 **"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm giving you an exclusive look inside the Stark Tower where not even twenty four hours ago, a possible abduction took place. As you can see, the place looks like the aftermath of a warzone: glass is shattered, the second floor railing is history, there's a ginormous hole in the floor, and most of all, blood. Tony Stark has yet to make an appearance and if he can't be found somewhere within the next nine hours, a missing persons' will officially be filed. There are no clues yet as to who is responsible for this attack or why Tony Stark might've been victimized, but there's a serious question that I'm sure all of us are asking. Is this the possible end of Anthony Edward Stark? Stay tuned for updates."**

 _"Peter? Pete, you still there?"_ Ned's voice brought him back to reality.

Peter shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm here."

 _"Dude, what the hell?"_

"I don't know," Peter sighed. "I got there and I just... yeah. I panicked. I called the authorities."

 _"You do realize that they might come question you about this, right? They might be looking at you as a possible suspect."_

"Ned?"

 _"Yeah?"_

"You're not exactly helping."

 _"Sorry."_

Peter was debating whether or not to tell his friend about his discovery; Ned has been helpful on numerous occasions in the past. However, until he found out more about what the hell Tony had left for him, he needed to keep this one quiet.

 _"Peter, you've gone quiet again, dude. You sure you're alright?"_ Ned sounded worried.

"I just found out that my mentor might be abducted by a possible psychopath. I don't exactly define that as 'okay'."

 _"Whoa, take a chill pill, Pete, I'm not the bad guy here."_

Peter sighed. "I know, I'm sorry, I'm just a little tense at the moment."

 _"Dude, I totally get it. It's not everyday where you stumble across a crime scene."_

"Still not helping."

 _"You know what? I'll just stop talking,"_ Ned sounded guilty.

"Look, Ned, I'll just see you tomorrow, alright?" Peter let his exhaustion creep into his voice. He really didn't need to deal with this right now.

 _"Yeah, okay. I'm here if you need me."_

"Bye, Ned," Peter hung up. He sighed and sat down at the couch, putting his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands as he took a deep, shuddery breath.

What do you do when you feel so helpless?

* * *

 **Was it good? Was it bad? Let me know! See you next Thursday!**

 **P.S. I know the news report in this chapter is bad. I'm not a news anchor. So, yeah. :-)**


	6. Chapter 6

The next time that Tony woke up, he was aware of a searing pain in his arms. It was a really weird feeling, if he had to say so himself. He still couldn't move his limbs, they were numb, and that spiked his anxiety once again. What didn't make sense to him was the fact that he could _feel_ the pain. That wasn't possible. Right?

Not that he hasn't dealt with the impossible before, because he most certainly has. He just wished that the world would just stop throwing surprises at him. It was getting pretty old, if he did say so himself.

Tony groaned in pain before opening his eyes, the room was illuminated a little more than the last time he was around. The lantern was back on the table and that was the source of the light.

He examined himself for injuries, looking to see what had caused the sharp pain he kept feeling. He still had two arms, two legs and he still had his head. Although, two different white bandages covered his entire forearms. It was soaked with blood and the bandages weren't exactly clean. They had weird black and orange spots on it, which worried him.

"Good to see you're finally awake, Stark," Hammer's voice came from behind him.

Tony's head whipped up in surprise. He forgot he wasn't alone. "You watching me sleep now?" Tony cracked a joke, despite the pain he was in. "That's creepy, even for you, Hammer."

"I'm not in the mood for your wisecrack jokes," Justin walked into his field of view, holding almost a microscopic chip with a pair of tweezers. He was inspecting it quite intently. "You know, this is quite impressive, if I have to admit. A subcutaneous chip that is implanted in one's nervous system. It's so intricate, and so dangerous. If implanted wrong, it could damage the whole nervous system."

Tony's eyes widened, "How'd you… What the hell did you do to me?"

Justin rolled his eyes, "Oh, calm yourself, money boy. We couldn't have you go summoning your armor now, could we? You're lucky I'm in a generous mood or I _would've_ left some damage behind. I merely reversed the implantation process. No harm done. Besides the excess blood flow, of course, but oh well. Although, I am curious, how'd you do it?"

"Do what?" Tony held his head high.

"How'd you get your nervous system to accept such an upgrade?"

Tony scoffed. "Like I'd ever tell you that."

Hammer chuckled darkly, "No, I guess you wouldn't. Maybe if I just test my luck and inject them into myself?"

"That's a terrible and stupid idea."

Hammer wasn't convinced. "How so? You scared I'll turn your suits into an evil rampage?"

Tony laughed, "Oh, please, I know you're to _dumb-minded_ to do that, Hammer."

Justin smirked, "Oh, you have no idea." He walked over to pick up a rod. "I will get your secrets, Tony. I will turn everything against you and I _will_ take everything that you took from me. Now, you gonna do this the easy way, or you gonna do this the hard way?"

Tony laughed, "You have no idea how cheesy that sounded."

Justin forcefully hit Tony in the back with the rod, successfully electrocuting him.

Tony groaned, "Taser rod, right. Got to love to the good ol' classics."

"I'd watch your mouth, Stark. You might just end up getting yourself into some trouble." Justin warned.

"Oh, please, you were going to do that anyway," Tony rolled his eyes.

Another hit with the rod.

"Tell me, Tony, what do you know about EXTREMIS?"

Tony tensed up for a moment before forcing himself to relax. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't," Justin mocked. "How's Pepper doing after being turned into a time bomb?"

"What do you care?" Tony spat.

"So you're not denying it?"

"Denying what?" Tony played dumb.

"I really don't have time for this," Justin shook his head and hit his back once more, longer this time, eliciting a shout of pain from the billionaire. "Now, that's more like it!"

"Didn't take you to be the kinky one, Hammer," Tony deadpanned.

That comment earned him a punch in the jaw, which was already sore from its previous abuse.

"Now, let's try this question. What do you know of Aldrich Killian?" Justin asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Tony exclaimed, getting more agitated by the second. "He's dead!"

"That may be true," Justin mused. "That was a pretty big show, you know? With all your suits? Impressive, Tony, impressive."

"What the hell do you want, Hammer?" Tony sighed. "I know it isn't about this."

Justin walked over to his desk and set the rod down, "You caught me red handed. I guess I just wanted to have a little fun."

"Well, congratulations," Tony sarcastically drawled out.

"Well, should we get back down to business?" Justin walked back over to him.

"Whatever floats your boat, although a cup of coffee would be nice," Tony retorted.

"I'll take note of that for the future," Justin shot back. "The Avengers. I want to know more about your little friends."

"I thought we already went through this, Hammer." Tony was really getting tired of this.

"Where are they?" Justin demanded.

"Your mother's house."

Justin punched him in the gut. Yep, he definitely felt that.

"Try again."

"Why the hell do you want to know?" Tony exclaimed. "Your beef is with me. Why they hell do you want to know about them?"

"I thought for a genius like you, it'd be obvious. Guess I overestimated you. Let me spell it out for you. You care about them. You consider them a family. You still consider them a family after your whole screw up. You broke me and you took everything away from me! What kind of person would I be if I didn't return the favor?"

"A polite jackass?" Tony supplied.

"Haha, very funny," Justin wasn't amused. "One last time, _Stark_ , where are the Avengers?"

"Go to hell," Tony gritted his teeth.

"Now, you see, I've been to hell. Not literally, of course, but close to it. My reputation was ruined, everything was taken away from me, I lost _everybody_. I was alone and I was on my own. That's hell. Now it's your turn."

"Hate to break it to you, but if that's your definition of hell, that's been my life for the past decade."

"Maybe so," Justin walked back over to his desk, grabbing a syringe and drawing some liquid from a vial. The liquid was a nauseating green-brown color.

"What the hell is that?" Tony eyes the needle as Hammer made his way back over to him.

"Something to keep you from doing something stupid. You wanna know why you can't move? It's an immobilizer that I proudly came up with myself. The best part? You can still feel the pain of everything I will do to you. I will break you, Tony. I will get you to tell me the Avengers' location. And then? Well, then I'll kill every single person that you ever loved or cared about."

"Screw you," Tony growled.

"Sorry, Stark, but you're not my type," Justin retorted before sinking the needle in Tony's neck.

Tony felt a sense of drowsiness pass through him and then he knew no more.

* * *

 **Don't worry, I didn't forget about posting a new chapter today. It's just been a busier day than i originally thought so this is the first time I was able to get to my computer today. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Was it good? Was it bad? Let me know! See you next Thursday!**


	7. Chapter 7

Peter woke up feeling utterly exhausted. Another late night fighting criminals and then the small amount of sleep he had managed to get seemed nonexistent. His mind wouldn't stop racing as he tried to figure out how to get out of this dead end that he had hit.

First off, he really didn't understand the device Tony had left him at all. He's spent most of the afternoon and evening yesterday trying to figure the damn thing out, but he was one hundred percent positive that he was damn lost.

As for who took Tony or why they took him in the first place, Peter had no clue. He tried doing some research, seeing if Tony had made any recent enemies, but that man has made so many enemies that Peter lost count.

He got ahold of Pepper the previous night and she was just as frantic as he was. Pepper reassured him that he did the right thing by calling the authorities into this and that she's _glad_ he did. She told him that a fifteen year old shouldn't have that much burden on his shoulders, especially if he decided to take it on alone. The conversation didn't last very long. Pepper ended the call by saying that she promised to keep him in the loop if she found anything out from the authorities and Peter promised to do the same thing.

Happy wasn't much better, in fact he was highly against Peter doing this alone, insisting that he didn't want Peter to do something stupid. The last thing Happy needed was to have that on his head as well. Peter knew he meant well, he could tell that Happy was worried for his friend, but that man can be an utter ass sometimes. Then again, it might just be his personality.

After those two phone calls, Peter spent the rest of his free time staring at the message that was left for him. He felt like there was supposed to be something else there that he was missing. It wasn't exactly because he _assumed_ there had to be something there, but there was that familiar tingle in the back of his head. It wasn't exactly his Spidey Sense, but it was more of a natural instinct. That feeling of knowing there's more to the puzzle than you originally thought.

 ** _"I want you to be better."_**

The words ring true at KAREN's assumption of the paper being some sort of goodbye message, but Peter really didn't want to give up that easily. There had to be some kind of code or something. Tony did those things, he's was genius. He couldn't have given up that easily. Right?

Then again, Peter has been worried about Tony's mental health ever since the Vulture accident. Often times when Peter arrived at the Tower, Tony had locked down all of the entrances to his lab. Instead of deciding to bother the man, he would usually do some training in the gym. Some days Tony would eventually join him and Peter loved those days. Not only because he's looked up to Tony as a father figure, but Tony always gave him tips to improve and sometimes help him discover what his new suit was capable of. However, there were the days that Tony wouldn't emerge at all and Peter couldn't help but wonder if the genius was hiding from Peter or just that he didn't feel like teaching a kid.

Although, Peter now wondered why Tony left him this strange device and the message. Why him? Why not someone else? Why not the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D? Or even Pepper?

Did Tony really have that much faith in him?

Needless to say, Peter's day at school went terribly. He fell asleep in both of his first two periods of the day and that earned him detention. Also, he didn't do any of his homework, so now he had to explain to Aunt May that his grades are once again slipping. The thought of that alone sent shivers down his spine.

By the time lunch came around, Peter was ecstatic. He skipped breakfast that morning and he was starving.

He quickly grabbed a tray full of food and sat down at his usual table. Ned joined him soon after, with a look of suspicion on his face.

"What's on your mind, Ned?" Peter asked curiously.

"Something's going on. You know more about the Stark case than you're letting on and I want to know about it," Ned crossed his arms.

Peter froze. _Shit. How the hell did he know that?_

Ned stayed serious for a moment before he began to laugh. "Dude, relax, I was joking. You should've seen your face though, it was priceless!"

Peter felt his cheeks burn and he looked down, "Not cool, man."

"I was just trying to cheer you up," Ned took a bite of his lunch. "You looked like you needed it."

"Joking about something like that isn't going to improve my mood," Peter sighed before yawning.

Ned looked at him in concern, "Pete, you feeling okay? You look exhausted."

"I'm fine, just another late night," Peter dismissed his comment.

"Are you sure?" Ned gently prodded.

Peter stayed quiet for a moment, debating with himself before slumping his shoulders in defeat. "It's about Mr. Stark."

"Look, Pete, I know you're worried, but they'll find him," Ned tried to reassure his friend.

"That's the thing, Ned. I don't know _if_ they'd be able to find him," Peter admitted.

"What do you mean by that?" Ned frowned.

"I mean that I think we're dealing with something bigger here. Not just a usual kidnapping case," Peter explained.

"Do you have anything to go off of?"

"For one, he left me a few things," Peter came clean. He needed help, he wasn't going to lie. Pepper was right, this one is too big to go alone and Ned had helped him greatly in the past.

"As in what?" Ned urged him to continue.

Peter lowered his voice. "He left me a device. I don't really know how to explain it or how it really works, though. It has keyboard that's in morse code, though and also, it needs a password."

"So, what's the password?" Ned asked.

"Keep your voice down," Peter reminded him.

Ned looked sheepish as he whispered, "Sorry."

"Look, I don't know what the password is yet, but I've been trying to figure it out. There was a message that was printed from that device though," Peter reached into his pocket and handed it to his friend.

"'I want you to be better.' What does that mean?" Ned looked confused.

"To be honest, I don't think it means anything," Peter scratched the back of his head.

"And what do you mean by that?"

Peter hesitated before he replied, "I think it's a goodbye message."

"But that doesn't make sense," Ned became more confused. "If these were goodbye messages then did he know someone was after him?"

Peter nodded. "That's why I think this is a force bigger than the authorities think."

Ned handed him the message, which Peter stashed away. "Shit, dude, how do you even respond to that?"

"I refuse to believe that this was just a coincidence," Peter continued. "That device was hidden behind a wall that I wouldn't have even found if it weren't for my enhanced senses. Also, why did Mr. Stark even hide it in the first place? _Who_ or _what_ was he hiding it from?"

"That's a lot of crazy crap you're assuming, Peter," Ned said.

"Look at it from my point of view, man. I come over to the Tower, find it trashed and I happen to be down in his lab. There's a hidden compartment behind the wall that opened after a _retinal_ scan was used. Mr. Stark went through some hard work to put that all together. Why me?"

Ned's eyes widened. "Maybe because he'd knew you'd find it?"

That actually didn't occur to Peter. Could that be true? Did Tony put the device where he knew Peter would find it? If he did, then _why_? He had a good hunch that it wasn't because he wanted to say goodbye.

"If that's true, then what the hell do I do from here?" Peter sighed in frustration. "I've hit a complete dead end!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ned asked.

Peter looked at his friend in disbelief. "No, not really. I'm pretty sure you're gonna have to spell it out for me."

"When you hit a dead end in a maze, what do you do?" Ned smirked.

The answer slammed into Peter's face and he felt like an idiot. "You go back and look for some other way out of the maze."

"So, in order to move forward in your case..." Ned began.

"I've got to go back to the scene of the crime," Peter finished. "Damn, that really sounded like a cheesy cop show."

"Hey, don't diss on cop shows, man. Hawaii Five-O is the beast," Ned laughed.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that," Peter chuckled.

When the bell rang to end lunch, Peter had his plan set in motion. After getting out of school, he's going back to the Tower. There's got to be something there that he hasn't seen before. Something that just might lead him where he needed to go next.

Until then, Peter just had to make sure he survived the rest of his classes without getting another detention.

* * *

 **Yeah, this chapter was a little slow because it's a filler chapter, but I felt like it was needed. Don't worry, the action's coming very soon! I'll probably end up posting another chapter sometime tomorrow or Saturday cause I kind feel bad for posting a filler chapter where nothing really happens. Anyways, I'll stop there before I start to ramble too much.**

 **Was it good? Was it bad? Let me know! Also, do you think Peter will find anything when he goes back to the Tower?**

 **See you next time!**

 **P.S. Thank you for bringing this story to over 125 followers! It means so much to me!**

 **P.P.S. Thank you to the people who've been leaving me lovely reviews lately! You have no idea how much it means to me!**


	8. Chapter 8

In the end, after an intense debate with himself, Peter attended his after school detention. He wanted to skip it and he was really tempted to, but Aunt May would've ground him for life if she found out he had skipped again. Yes, he's done it several times in the past and the guilt was always there. Guilt for getting detention in the first place and guilt of knowing he disappointed his Aunt by skipping out of the consequences of his actions. He really did feel bad about how many times he had gotten himself into trouble ever since he became Spider-Man. Before the spider bite, he was the good student that had a straight A record and also avoided trouble at all costs. Now, in the present day, it was a different story. In his defense, he didn't ask for trouble. No, the trouble usually found him first and Peter was left to deal with the consequences.

However, if he had to listen to that Captain America PSA one more time, he would personally rip his ears off.

Needless to say, it was one of the most boring, yet productive hours of his life. Those sixty minutes gave him a lot of time to think.

If he went back to the tower, Peter had to know what to look for and where to search for them. There's a good chance that the authorities have wiped that place clean by now, but Peter was hoping that they left something of value behind. Maybe there was another secret compartment that Tony wanted him to find?

The thoughts that ran through his head had caused his leg to anxiously jump up and down at a ridiculous rate as he just stared at the clock, watching the minutes drag by in an infuriatingly slow manner.

When the teacher finally dismissed the students, Peter bolted out of the school and he soon found himself swinging his way towards the Tower.

* * *

When he arrived at the Tower, he really shouldn't have been so surprised at the fact that the whole place looked as if a cleaning crew had swept by. The debris was gone, and for that Peter was thankful since he didn't have to worry about stepping on glass. Imagine him having to explain that one to his Aunt. Oh, that would be a joy. On top of all that, everything still looked the same… just cleaner. The second floor railing was still destroyed and there was still a massive hole in the floor that no doubt led to Tony's lab. The blood was gone, but the image was still driven into Peter's mind when he thought about it. He shuddered and decided to continue to move forward.

"Alright, KAREN," Peter walked over to one of the in-wall computers. "Is there anyway that I could get FRIDAY's system back online?" By the way the screen was shattered, Peter guessed someone either punched it or was thrown into it.

"At the moment, the answer is inconclusive," KAREN replied. "I'll need to scan the tower's mainframe, but I'm afraid something is blocking my access to it."

"Blocked?" Peter frowned. "By who?"

"By Mr. Stark, of course. It's a part of his 'Baby Proof Protocol.'" KAREN answered.

 _Of course he would name it that_ , Peter thought bitterly. Don't get him wrong, he respected the man, but Tony could be downright infuriating at times. One of those times was now.

Peter didn't know what bugged him more. The fact that Mr. Stark still treated him as a kid after he proved himself, or the fact that Tony seemed to always find something to tear down Peter's confidence in himself. Why did Tony have to be so confusing? At one moment, he was praising the teen for a job well done and the next moment, it was like Tony wanted the suit back, as if the billionaire still didn't trust him enough with the responsibility that came with it. Peter learned from his mistakes, he just wished Tony saw that too.

Peter sighed. "Guess we'll just have to do this blind for now."

He really had no clue what he was looking for or even if he was hoping to find something. He wanted to believe that he would indeed find something of use, but he had a feeling it was just wishful thinking.

 _Great,_ Peter thought. _Now I'm turning into Scrooge._

He spent some time searching the upstairs area, going through some of Tony's drawers, ignoring the guilty feeling of searching through his personal stuff without the man's permission. Peter had to remind himself that it was for good reason, that it could help him find something to bring his mentor home.

After finding a few interesting things, but nothing useful to his current case, Peter moved to the main floor.

He couldn't help it, every time he came to this floor, shivers would always run down his spine. It always felt like someone was watching him without him knowing and it freaked him out. Maybe it was the paranoia from the first time he came to the Tower and found the place a wreck, or maybe it was more than that. He didn't focus on it, though; he came here for a reason.

Just to be safe, he asked anyways. "KAREN, I'm the only one in the Tower at the moment, right?"

"According to my sensors, you are indeed the only person present in the Tower," KAREN confirmed.

Feeling reassured, he went forward and started searching the kitchen. He found nothing but stale bread and cereal. He then went to the living room. After no luck there, Peter went down into the gym, which seemed like the only room that wasn't a mess. In fact, it looked exactly the way he had left it a week prior.

An hour later and no luck, Peter finally made his way to Tony's lab. The door was still unusually wide open and Peter was worried that there would also be nothing of interest. The police did a good sweep of the whole place and Peter didn't even want to think about the fact that he might've already missed his chance at investigating this further.

Right now, though, he had one mission and one alone. He had to see if he could get FRIDAY back online. The AI might be the only lead that he's got about Tony's whereabouts.

Peter went straight over to the computer mainframe in the lab. A holographic computer screen appeared in front of him with one message.

PASSWORD:

"What the hell is it with you and passwords?" Peter exclaimed.

After trying, and failing to hack his way into Stark's database, Peter finally growled in frustration before swiping the screen away. He'd need to get Ned on this to see if he'd have any luck. He was a computer genius after all. He still began to get agitated at the dead end he had hit.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO?" He shouted at the ceiling, as if the Tower was a living being.

That's when he heard it.

It was a very faint chirping noise. Again, he wouldn't have heard it if it weren't for his enhanced senses.

Following the noise, Peter spent a good twenty minutes before he found it completely by accident. He was near the far right corner of the lab when he tripped over something completely invisible. He landed on his stomach and he groaned.

That's when he noticed it.

There was a loose tile on the floor. It was barely visible, which explained why the authorities hadn't noticed it.

Ned's voice rang into his head. _"Maybe he hid it someplace he knew you'd find it."_

Scrambling into a crouching position, Peter grabbed the edge of the tile before using all his strength to lift it; only he couldn't get a good grip.

Thinking of an alternate plan, Peter felt the light bulb click in his head. Jumping onto roof, he was dangling upside down as his feet were firmly stuck to the ceiling. He shot some of his web fluid onto the loose tile and then pulled with all of his might. He didn't expect it to pop loose like that, he swear he didn't. If he had known, he would've dodged the incoming tile that flew at his face. However, his Spidey-Sense didn't warn him in time and he suddenly had a face full of concrete.

He yelped in pain and in the process, managed to free-fall back onto solid ground.

Peter groaned, "Nice plan, Pete, totally worked perfectly."

"I'd like to say otherwise," KAREN commented.

"No one asked you, KAREN," Peter grunted as he managed to get to his feet. He felt his nose bleeding slightly through his mask and he mentally groaned. That's gonna be a pain to wash out of the suit. Blood never came out easily.

Walking back over to the new hole in the floor, Peter bent down and saw a bright red light flashing. There was a huge button in the center and not a sign in sight to give Peter a clue as to what it did.

"KAREN, what's with the button?" Peter asked.

"I'm afraid all I can supply as an answer is that ' _it's classified_.'" KAREN replied.

"Should I press it?" Peter wondered.

"That's up to you, Peter," KAREN said. "That's not a decision I can make up for you."

Peter had a mental debate with himself for a moment. Everyone knew that 99% of the time, a big red button was bad news. That's why people always shouted 'Don't press the button!' But in times like this, Peter was desperate. What happened if this led him to something important?

After a few minutes of careful thinking, Peter made up his mind.

He pressed the button.

* * *

 **I'll admit something right now. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and I was actually really surprised at how easy it just came to me. Anyways, there's a little more build up in here than I wanted, but I decided to leave a cliffhanger so please don't kill me!**

 **One last thing. Maybe it's bad to say this, but I did hint at another character joining the story very soon. Look very carefully and maybe you'll be able to guess who ;-)**

 **Was it good, was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**

 **P.S. Thank you for the constant reviews/reviewers who've never failed to review after each update, it's awesome to hear feedback!**

 **P.P.S. A few people have asked me about my updating schedule and I'll clarify that a little bit :-) I always plan to post weekly, so expect at least one chapter every Thursday. You never know though, I might throw in two chapters every once in awhile :P**

 **Alright, see you next time!**


	9. Chapter 9

Peter didn't know whether or not he should've been relieved or disappointed after he pushed the button, finding it to have done absolutely nothing. Looking back at it, Peter didn't even know what he was expecting to come out of pushing the button. Maybe the whole Tower self-destructing, maybe some coordinates or a new kickass suit that was programmed to Tony's location, or even some freaking _message_ from the billionaire to give him a clue as or where the hell he should look next. Needless to say, the whole ordeal ended up being really anticlimactic.

It took him a few minutes to place the tile back into the floor, making it look like he was never there. When he turned to leave, in his peripheral vision, he saw some light reflecting off of an object on the floor in the far corner of the lab. Frowning, Peter made his way over to the object and bent down. It was a burner phone. Feeling a new spark of hope ignite in him, Peter flipped open the phone, only to find it dead. He groaned in annoyance. That was just his typical luck.

Finding nothing else of interest, he left the Tower feeling discouraged, distraught and disappointed beyond belief. He felt like he was missing something really obvious and it bugged him to no end. On top of all that, he was frustrated at hitting another dead end.

What was that phone that he found? Why did Tony even have a burner phone in the first place? He had numerous generations of his own Stark Phones, so why have a cheap flip phone? Peter would just have to head to a convenience store tomorrow to see if he could find a charger and then maybe he would be able to find some answers.

The next thing that confounded him was the odd button he had found. Why was it hidden in the floor of all places? You would think that if it was important, then it would be out in plain sight. Peter just didn't understand why it didn't work or even do anything at all. Maybe the button was broken and that was why the red light was flashing? Maybe it got deactivated just like the FRIDAY's systems were offline? Maybe it was connected to FRIDAY and Peter needed to get the AI back up before proceeding forward. However, that proven to be easier said than done. For one, Peter had to get Ned onto hacking into Stark's mainframe to get FRIDAY back up and running. That could take days, though. When Ned hacked into the Spider-Man suit, it took him a good ten hours at most and that was a minor thing. They were talking about a ginormous mainframe, not a small suit. What worried Peter the most however, was how much time they really had before the possibility of finding the billionaire alive was gone. Already, Peter thought the chances were pretty slim.

 _Don't think like that, Peter,_ The teen chided himself. _You don't have any evidence to prove he's dead. Then again... you don't really have any evidence to prove he's alive either... no, stop. Think positive._

Basically, his conscious kept going back and forth as Peter made his way back to his apartment. When he walked into the building, Peter knew May was absent since her car was nowhere to be seen. Peter remembered her telling him that morning that she was spending the night at a friend's house to help with a pregnant dog... So basically Peter was alone for the night.

For the first time in a long time, it was a quiet night in Queens and Peter couldn't have been happier. He was exhausted and he really needed sleep before he became too brain dead to function. He already had begun to live off of coffee for a while and his Aunt hated it. Deciding to take advantage of the peaceful night, Peter flopped onto his bed and went to sleep.

Peter's wasn't entirely sure what caused him to jolt awake in the middle of the night. Something just felt... wrong. Then it occurred to him that there was that familiar tingling sensation in the back of his head and he froze. Something was really wrong.

Creeping out of his bed, Peter grabbed his web-shooters before slowly making his way into the dark apartment. It was a new moon that night and there was an eerie absence of shadows that usually came from the moonlight. His senses were going wild as he remained on high alert, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

As he went to round the corner of the living room, the light switched on and Peter jumped onto the ceiling as a quick reflex.

Sitting in an armchair, an eye-patched man looked up at him, his expression amused.

"Tony said you could stick to walls," The man mused. "I guess seeing is believing. Don't you think so, Peter?"

Peter was suspicious, who the hell was this guy? "How do you know my name? How do you know Mr. Stark?"

"Now, there's a time and place for backstories, and right now it is certainly not the time or place. Let's just say I'm an old ally." The man stood up. "You coming down from there, or what? My neck's beginning to ache."

Peter cautiously lowered himself back to the floor, but his posture didn't relax. "Who are you?"

The man raised an eyebrow at the teen, "Tony hasn't told you? I don't know whether to be surprised or... well, I'm actually not that surprised."

"Who are you?" Peter repeated, conviction in his voice.

"Brave," The man noticed. "That's a good quality to have in a field like this. Name's not important at the moment."

"What are you doing in my house at..." Peter looked at the clock on the mantelpiece, "Three in the morning?"

"An agent called me saying that an SOS alarm was tripped at Stark Tower some time yesterday. I knew you'd be looking into his disappearance and well, you asked for help so here I am," Eye-Patch crossed his arms, looking a little impatient.

"You seem to know quite a few things," Peter narrowed his eyes. "How do I know you're not an enemy?"

"Because I'm affiliated with the Avengers," He stated. "Actually, I was the one who recruited them in the first place. Trust me, Peter, I'm not your enemy here."

Peter didn't know why he found the mysterious man so easy to trust, but he did. Peter might not have known major details on Tony's previous adventures, but he knew enough to know that this man was telling the truth.

"You say you're here to help?" Peter asked.

The man hesitated. "In whatever way we can." He was looking down at a device in his hands and he typed a few things while he made his reply. He then showed the screen to Peter. It read:

 _Not here. Unsecured location. Avengers Compound. Tomorrow. 0800._

Peter's eyebrows scrunched in confusion, but just nodded anyway.

 _Bring everything you got so far. We'll work from there._

"Mind if I ask for a glass of water?" The man asked as he placed the device back into his black trench coat. "Traveling sure works up a thirst."

"Y-Yeah..." Peter stuttered and walked into the kitchen.

However, when Peter returned to the living room, there was no one there nor was there any evidence of anyone being there in the first place. Just the small whistling of the wind was heard as a storm began to form in the distance.

* * *

 **I apologize for the shorter chapter, it's been a busy week and today was the first day of school for me, so yeah. I also had to write this in a rush so I apologize if the quality's not as good as the other chapters.**

 **Anyways, was it good? Was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**

 **P.S. we're almost to 150 follows! Thank you so much! It means a lot to me! :-)**


	10. Chapter 10

Peter was swinging onto the Avenger's Compound front lawn by the time 8:00 had rolled around the next morning. He cursed himself for being late, but he over slept and if it wasn't for his Aunt May coming home and waking him, he might have slept well into the afternoon. After some initial panic, Peter mumbled an excuse and the next thing he knew, he was suited up and on his way to uptown New York.

Throughout the trip, Peter had to ignore his grumbling stomach. Then he realized that he must've been in such a rush that he didn't eat breakfast. That wasn't like him at all to forget something like that. Being fifteen, almost sixteen, his appetite was quite large at the moment and he felt a little lightheaded due to his blood sugar being low as a result. He brushed off the feeling and kept moving forward, telling himself that he'd just get something to eat when he got to the compound.

Anyways, he was running into the building at exactly 8:05 and he was surprised to find Colonel Rhodes waiting for him in the entrance hall.

"It's about time you got here," He crossed his arms, a smile creeping onto his face. "It's good to see you again, man."

Rhodes didn't know of Peter's real identity, in fact the only person who knew was Tony and well... Tony wasn't there.

"It's good to see you too," Peter nodded, knowing that his mask would hide his grin. "Where is everyone? It's pretty quiet."

"Well, everyone's gone except me and Vision. We've had the place to ourselves since the whole Germany incident. It's been quiet, and I don't know whether I like it or not. Tony used to drop by every once in awhile... but he's not here at the moment."

"I know he's missing, Mr. Rhodes," Spider-Man revealed.

Rhodey sighed, "I was afraid that was what you were here for. Fury showed up last night and told us to prepare for a visitor. Also, please, no formalities. Call my Rhodey," He held his hand out.

Spider-Man took it and they shook hands. "Fury?"

"Let's just say he's a badass guy with an eye patch," Rhodey laughed.

 _I'm guessing that's the guy that I met last night._ Peter thought.

"Come on, we better show up before he skins the both of us," Rhodey nodded his head towards the stairs. "Follow me."

On the second floor of the building, there was a conference room that had glass walls. There weren't a lot of people there. Just Fury and another guy that Peter didn't recognize. He wore a black formal suit and he had brown hair. He looked like some sort of agent or something. They walked through the door and Fury looked at them, along with the other guy.

"It's about time you showed up," Fury quirked an eyebrow at the kid. "You make being late a habit?"

"No... I uh... I kinda overslept," Peter admitted sheepishly.

"Well, make sure it doesn't happen again," Fury replied before saying. "Do you want to keep the mask on or off? Your call."

Peter debated that for a moment. Rhodey knew he was young but what happens if he found out that the man behind the mask was only a fifteen-year-old kid? Would he look at him differently? Peter shook his head; he needed to be in this, if Rhodey found out that he was a kid, he would send him back home.

"I think I'm good," Peter replied, keeping his mask firmly on.

Fury just shrugged, "Alright then."

The man next to him looked over at Fury, "This is him? He sounds pretty young…"

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Peter frowned.

The man turned to face him, "Name's Phil Coulson. Agent Phil Coulson, to be exact." He held out his hand.

Peter shook it hesitantly, "Spider-Man."

"So I've heard. Well, it's good to finally meet you, Spider-Man," Coulson remarked. "Tony's spoken about you quite a bit."

Peter blinked in surprise, "Really?"

Coulson nodded. "He was talking to me while he was installing that SOS button in the Stark Tower. When you pressed it, I informed Fury right away. Figured you'd appreciate some back up."

"So that's what the button did," Peter mused. "I thought it was broken."

"Nope, it's a silent alarm," Coulson explained. "Well, silent on your end. The alarms went off on my end."

"And now we're here to help," Fury finished. "You bring what you got so far?"

That startled Peter out of his confused thoughts. He reached for the bag around his back. "Yeah." He walked over to the table, where the three other men took a seat.

Peter took out the burner phone first and placed it onto the table. "I found this yesterday at the tower after I pressed the button, but when I flipped it open, it was dead."

Rhodes reached for the phone and studied it for a moment. "Not just dead. Fried. The battery looks like it got roasted."

Peter frowned, mostly to himself since he knew that his mask hid his face. How did he manage to miss that? Was he really that distracted? He really needed to start paying attention more often.

"Let me see," Coulson requested. Rhodey handed him the phone and Coulson examined it. "It still looks like it might be savable. I'll send this over to my crew right away. They'll be able to fix it in no time."

Fury looked over to Peter, "What else you got?"

"When I first went to the Stark Tower, the place was absolutely trashed and I'm not exaggerating. The second floor railing was shattered, there was glass everywhere, there was a hole in the floor and what scared me the most was the blood splattered on the tiles. So I went down to Mr. Stark's lab, and I found the door completely wide open," Peter recalled.

Rhodey frowned, "That's not a good sign. Tony always has his lab locked down to strangers."

Peter nodded in agreement. "I went in to investigate, you know? The place looked like someone was searching for something. Drawers were open, papers were scattered everywhere. Looked like they left in quite a hurry too. That's when I noticed a small red light was flashing from the corner of the room. I walked over to it and it took a retinal scan. Then a secret compartment appeared in the wall and this was inside," Peter took the post-it note sized device out of his bag and placed it in the middle of the table.

Rhodey perked up and reached for it. When he got his hands on it, he examined the device closely, muttering, "What the hell?" He turned it on and frowned. "It says it needs a password," He looked back up at Peter.

"Don't look at me," Peter held his hands up in defense. "I've been trying to figure out the password to that thing for ages. I typed in everything that I could think of. All came up incorrect."

"I've got something I can try," Rhodey offered.

"Yeah... that's not a good idea," Peter warned him.

"Why not?" Rhodey wondered.

"I typed in too many incorrect passwords. Let's just say the next wrong password will make the device go kaboom," Peter scratched the back of his neck, looking sheepish.

"Ok, so we pretty much got nothing then," Rhodey groaned in defeat.

"There's one more thing," Peter dug around in his bag. "I can't believe I almost forgot about this..." When he found what he was looking for, Peter placed slid the small piece of paper to the middle of the table. "This was printed from that device."

Rhodey reached for the message and read it aloud, "'I want you to be better.' What the hell does that mean?"

"Not much," Peter admitted. "I think it's a goodbye message."

"So, Mr. Stark has finally accepted defeat?" Fury raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "That doesn't sound like the Iron Man I know."

Peter was about to respond, but a small whirring noise came from the device and a small piece of paper came out of the slot and he froze.

Reaching for the paper, Peter frowned at the message.

"Well, what does it say?" Coulson asked.

" _'I told you I didn't want to join your super-secret boy band.'_ " Peter read aloud. "But that doesn't make any sense..."

"Let me see," Fury ordered, holding his hand out and Peter handed him the message. Fury's eye scanned over the message again and he sighed. "No doubt this one's for me."

"What? Another goodbye message?" Peter queried.

Fury nodded solemnly. "I'm afraid so."

"One thing that I don't get though," Rhodey voiced, "Is why leave goodbye messages? Did he know someone was after him?"

"You're not the first one to think so," Peter told him. "The thought had crossed my mind a few times."

"So there's got to be more than just this, right?" Rhodey asked. "I mean, why the hell didn't he leave one for me?"

Peter just shrugged. "I don't know."

"First thing's first," Coulson chimed in. "We fix the phone. Then we'll work from there."

"Until then?" Peter asked.

"Until then, you just hang tight. With Iron Man gone, you're gonna have to keep an eye over New York," Coulson stated. "We'll keep you informed."

"But..." Peter tried to protest. He needed to help, he just had to. Tony was more than just Peter's mentor, he was his friend.

"No buts," Coulson shook his head. He threw the device back at the teenager. "Keep that safe and keep that hidden. I'm trusting you with that."

Peter didn't know why he felt so honored. He couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

"As you said it yourself, the compartment revealed itself to _you_ through a retinal scan. That means Tony wanted _you_ to have that device." Coulson answered, as if the answer was obvious.

"Thank you," Peter genuinely returned. "I won't let you down."

"I sure hope not," Coulson replied. "Good luck, Spider-Man. Call if you need anything at all," He handed Peter a phone number. "You're dismissed."

Just like that, the meeting was done and Coulson walked out of the room, followed by Fury and then Rhodey and Peter was left alone to his own thoughts.

* * *

 **Hey, sorry this is late, School's been ruthless along with marching band rehearsals four days in a row. Let's just say that I didn't have a lot of time this week for writing. This chapter was another filler chapter and I'm trying to push the story along so this might've came out of nowhere, but I've got a lot of build up already and I'm itching to start writing the good parts which is coming up really soon.**

 **One last thing. Updates are now going to be _EVERY SUNDAY_. I'm moving it into the weekend so I don't have to worry about writing it during the school week. Also, it's just more convenient for me now that school's started along with marching band season. Anyways, that's all for now, I guess.**

 **Was it good? Was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**

 **See you next SUNDAY :-)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Some dialogue was used from Spider-Man: Homecoming so I'll do a quick disclaimer. I DO NOW OWN ANY MARVEL CONTENT USED IN THIS STORY! ALL RIGHTS GO TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS!**

* * *

Peter knew that he should've gone straight home after his little meeting at the Avenger's compound, but he needed some air. He needed to calm his racing thoughts and get his head back in the game.

How he ended up at the same roof where he had that argument with Tony after the Ferry incident, he couldn't answer that. Maybe he went there unconsciously, or maybe it was because of something else, he honestly had no clue.

As he sat at the edge of the roof, his feet dangling over the side, he couldn't help but remember the conversation that happened almost a year ago.

 _Peter was sitting at the edge of the roof, his feet dangling off the side. He was staring off into the distance when Tony's Iron Man Armor flew up behind him and hovered a few feet off the ground._

 _"Previously on Peter screws the pooch; I told you to stay away from this, instead you hacked a multimillion dollar suit so you could sneak around behind my back, doing the one thing that I told you not to do."_

 _Peter felt his shoulders sag in defeat when he heard Tony's pissed off voice. "Is everyone okay?"_

 _"No, thanks to you," Tony harshly replied._

 _Those words aggravated him. He turned around to look at Iron Man incredulously. "No, thanks to me?" He threw his legs back over the side and got onto the roof floor. He began to walk towards the suit as he ranted, "Those weapons were out there and I tried to tell you about it, but you didn't listen. None of this would've happened if you had just listened to me!" He hated how his voice cracked. "If you even cared, you'd actually be here."_

 _The last thing that he expected was for the billionaire to step out of the suit. He thought that it was just the armor he had seen when he first encounteed the Vulture. As far as Peter was concerned, Tony was halfway across the world. So when Tony stepped onto solid ground, he took a step back, suddenly uncertain and his confidence gone._

 _"I did listen, kid. Who do you think called the FBI, huh? Do you know that I was the only one who believed in you?" Tony shot back. "Everyone said I was crazy for recruiting a fourteen year old kid..."_

 _"I'm fifteen," Peter weakly interjected._

 _"No! This is where you zip it, alright? The adult is talking!" Tony shouted. "What if somebody had died tonight? Different story, right? Cause that's on you. And if you died? I feel like that's on me. I don't need that on my conscience."_

 _"Yes sir, I understand. I'm sorry," Peter apologized._

 _"Sorry doesn't cut it."_

 _"I know. I..." Peter stuttered. "I just wanted to be like you," he admitted guilty._

 _Tony just looked at him in disappointment. "And I wanted you to be better."_

Back in reality, Peter hated himself for being so pitiful. He hated Tony for being right, he hated Tony for telling him to stay away from something that was his fault to begin with. Vulture was out for _his_ head, not Tony's. That's why Peter just couldn't leave things well enough alone. Sure, in Tony's defense, it was his cleaning crew that put Vulture out of business and eventually led to the creation of the villain himself along with an illegal weapons business. However, Peter provoked him. He got in Vulture's way and Peter had a mess to clean up. His mess.

Of course, at that time, Peter hadn't known that the Vulture was actually Liz's father. Boy, was that that a slap in the face. However, that made things more personal, and when Vulture threatened everyone he cared about, he went after the villain.

The one thing that he couldn't really wrap his head around, was the message that seemed to always pop up.

 ** _"I want you to be better."_**

It wasn't the first time that the message had surfaced. Tony kept reminding him that he wanted Peter to be a better hero than Tony ever was. Whether it be during a training session, or even a mere invention that Tony invited Peter to work on with the billionaire. Now it's Tony's goodbye message to him? Is that all Tony wanted for him? The only thing that he cared about? Did Tony see it as a way to clear his conscience? Or repay a debt?

The thought aggravated Peter. Tony was a good superhero. He was a freaking hero _without_ his armor. If the Mandarin scenario hadn't proved that to him, then maybe Tony was too self-loathing to open his eyes and see that. So why did Peter have to be better? His Uncle Ben already died because of Peter and that blood is already on his hands. Along with Liz's heart-broken eyes, Aunt May constantly worrying herself sick about him, and even Ned now having to carry the burden of Peter's secret identity. Spider-Man wasn't some super solider, he was _human_. Sure, a human that has arachnid abilities, but people often forget that he's only fifteen, almost sixteen. He's still a kid.

Nothing he could say or do could change any of those things. If he could go back and time and change everything, he would. He didn't care about losing his powers if it meant he could have his uncle back. Now every time he turned onto the street that where his uncle was shot, or even when he puts on the suit, his uncle's words still rang clearly in his ears.

 ** _With great power comes great responsibility._**

What disgusted him the most was how he had already failed his Uncle Ben with all of the mistakes he had made. He let everyone down, and even if he couldn't fix everything, it doesn't mean that he'd give up that easily. Tony's disappearance is one thing that he's never going to give up trying to solve. He needed his friend back, he needed to let Tony know that there was someone who gave a damn about what happened to him. The billionaire had a family back at the Avenger's compound, and Tony had become like a father to him. Tony had left him that device for a reason and one way or another, Peter was going to crack the code, even if it was the last thing he did.

Peter was snapped out of his train of thoughts when his phone started to ring. He glanced at the caller ID before answering it. "Hey, Aunt May, I was just going to call you."

 _"Funny, I've heard that one before,"_ His aunt's voice came through the phone, her tone amused.

Peter winced. "I was just going to let you know that I was on my way back to the apartment."

 _"And that's what I was calling you for. Glad you decided to actually try to make your curfew this time. Remember, Dinner's at 8:00."_

"I'll be there in like fifteen minutes," Peter promised before hanging the phone up

He threw his legs over the wall of the roof and plopped himself down onto the roof's surface. He wouldn't have noticed it if it weren't for the light shining the way it was. there was a small engraving on the door to the stairs. It was so microscopic, that if Peter's vision wasn't enhanced, he wouldn't have known it was there at all.

Taking a step closer, Peter knelt down to get a clear view of the engraving. It was a letter. H.

Suddenly, things began to make sense.

 _"I want you to be better."_

"You son of a bitch," Peter let out a breathy laugh.

* * *

That night, Peter did some work. He snagged a notebook from the connivence store on the way back to his apartment and now he was jotting down everything that he had on the case so far. From the tower, to the messages, to the phone, to the device and lastly, the newfound clue he discovered on the rooftop.

When Peter had called Rhodey after dinner and explained his finding, Rhodey wasn't convinced that the letter held any significance. In fact, the older man thought that it was just a coincidence. Peter on the other hand, well he wasn't so convinced of War Machine's opinion. Something just didn't feel right when he noticed that letter and Peter needed to hold onto all the hope that he could find.

After writing what he had in what he deemed his "Investigation Journal," Peter stared at his notes blankly. He was still so confused about the whole ordeal. What the hell was the device that Tony left him? He'd been trying to figure that out since day one, but it keeps surprising him and just raising more questions, to which the answers might forever be hidden. Why did it keep spitting out random messages for different people? Peter had been around that device for weeks before Fury showed up and suddenly, out of the blue, it prints another message? Why? Why then? And why not Rhodey or Coulson?

He knew it was a lost cause to keep trying to decipher the strange gadget, so he just sat back at his desk chair and let out a groan of defeat.

Maybe he would think better when he got some sleep. Climbing into bed, Peter drifted off into a restless sleep.

* * *

 **Another update down and wow, I had trouble with this chapter. I haven't hit a writer's block, but I guess I've been so busy lately, that I hadn't really planned out what was gonna happen in this chapter. Yes, the flashback was cliche but I thought it fit the text pretty well.**

 **Anyways, I won't keep you guys long. See you next Sunday!**

 **Was it good? Was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**

 **P.S. We've reached 100 Favs and I want to thank everyone for the huge accomplishment!**

 **P.P.S. Thank you for all of the reviews I've been getting! I love hearing feedback!**


	12. Chapter 12

When Tony came around for the umpteenth time in a row, he was really getting tired of being unconscious. Sure, it might've been better than the alternative of getting tortured, but it was beginning to get too damn disorienting. Seriously, he honestly had no clue how long he's been abducted for. Hell, he was getting kind of worried that maybe Rhodey might go on a rampage and destroy Fury for all he knew. However, what confused Tony the most was why Hammer hadn't taken the opportunity to finish him off yet. If it was one thing that Tony was sure of, Hammer was out for his head. Hammer wanted revenge. So why hasn't he killed Tony yet? The billionaire saw how much his enemy was itching for it, so why wait?

Opening his eyes, Tony looked around the dark room, noticing a few things that he hadn't noticed before. For one, he was able to feel his aching limbs and he was able to strain against the ropes that held him down. Feeling sharp pain throughout his body, Tony was beginning to wish that Hammer had given him more of that immobilizer. Sure he might've felt the pain while he was on it, but at least it prevented him from moving. Moving just aggravated the pain more.

Doing a mental check of his injuries, Tony felt his forearms on fire and he didn't like the feeling of that one bit. It's an indication of the extraction sites, that Hammer had made, may be infected. That's what scared him the most. Dying from a mere wound infection was a crappy way to go, in his opinion.

Continuing with his mental check-up, Tony noticed his jaw felt stiff, his back felt like it was blistering, and that his wrists had some serious rope burn. You better be damned if you didn't think it hurt like a bitch.

Straining against the ropes, Tony felt a sharp pinch in his arm, and he looked down to see an IV implanted in the creased of his right arm.

"What the hell?" Tony wondered.

"Oh, don't worry, it's just some fluids," Hammer's voice startled the shit out of him. "Can't have you dying on me just yet." A lamp clicked on in the corner of the room. "Good to see you awake, Stark."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling so lucky," Tony retorted, letting it look like he relaxed into the back of the chair.

"Now, you see, that personally offends me," Hammer stood up. "And here I thought that we were finally becoming friends."

"If we're friends, you have got to work on your social skills," Tony snorted.

"I think I'm doing pretty good, thank you very much," Hammer crossed his arms, his eyes sparkling in amusement.

"Why the hell don't you just finish me off already, Hammer? I'm getting pretty tired of this game of yours," The billionaire sighed.

"Where's the fun in that? I haven't finished what I started yet," Justin clucked his tongue in disappointment.

"And what exactly is it that you have started?" Tony raised an eyebrow at his captor. "How'd you put it? Break me? Is that your endgame? Well congratulations, you have. Now just kill me already."

"Sounds like somebody is eager for death," Hammer chuckled. "Hate to break it to you, Stark, but you're far from Death's doorstep at the moment. You see, breaking you is just the first step of my plan with you."

"Now, that just sounds plain creepy," Tony mocked a scared tone. "I've had worse, Hammer. Try me."

"Okay, fine." Hammer walked up to the billionaire. "What about that kid that you helped out a few years ago? I believe it was during the Mandarin incident. What was his name? It seems to have slipped my mind," Hammer pretended to think. He snapped his fingers, "Oh right, Harley Keener."

Tony tensed up for a split second before stuttering, "I don't know who you're talking about."

Justin laughed in delight. "It seems that I have finally struck a personal spot! Tell me, Tony, what are you gonna do if I just send someone up to his doorstep and have them shoot him on the spot? Let's call it... A little gift from 'The Mechanic.'"

Tony pulled against the ropes as he growled, "Don't you dare, or I swear to god I will kill you."

"And how are you gonna do that?" Hammer challenged.

"Trust me, Hammer, you don't want to mess with me."

"Seeing as how I've got you tied to a chair, I'll take my chances," Justin shot back. He walked back over to the table and grabbed a tablet. "Let's see... Remember the Battle of New York? I heard you almost died. Pretty much a shame you didn't, though. Would've saved me the trouble. Remember this?" Hammer showed him a video of Captain America and him fighting some Chitauri on the ground. Tony bounced his repulsor off of Steve's shield and fried a bunch of the aliens. "I can see the way you care for him, you know. You see him as a brother despite all that you've been through. Despite all that he's done _to_ you. What would you do if it was him that I killed first."

Tony sat rigid in his chair. "You wouldn't dare."

"Would I?" Hammer raised an eyebrow at him.

"You do that and I wouldn't be the only one after your head," Tony warned in a cold tone.

"Who else do I have to worry about, the Avengers?" Hammer scoffed. "I'd like to see them catch me."

Tony studied his enemy for a second before realizing something. Hammer wasn't ready for battle, he was _using_ these things to poke him in all the right places.

"You're finding this amusing," Tony was genuinely surprised.

"Of course I am, this is far too amusing. Checking off all of your biggest failures and also seeing how they still haunt your waking hours along with your sleeping ones... it's far too priceless," Hammer flashed him a wicked grin.

"You're sick," Tony spat.

"I feel quite well, thank you very much," Hammer retorted. He flipped through a few things on his tablet once more. "Oh, this is a good one!" Hammer showed him the tablet of his mansion being blown up. Dragging him into the ocean along with it. "Giving your home address to a terrorist. And I thought I was the dumb one."

Tony felt his heart race at watching the footage. First New York, now the mansion, then threatening his family... Harley... He was fighting down his raging emotions that threatened to overwhelm them.

"Oh and this one!" Hammer laughed in delight.

This was a footage that Tony hadn't seen. It was a footage of Peter... He seemed to be trapped under some sort of rubble and he was screaming for help.

"What... what did you do?" Tony's voice cracked.

If he wasn't so out of it, Tony might've noticed the mischief in Hammer's eyes.

"No, Tony... what did you do?" Hammer threw his question back in his face.

"If you hurt him..." Tony threatened.

"Who says I already haven't?" Hammer smirked.

* * *

 **I'm sorry if this chapter seemed a little rushed and fast paced. I wanted to give you guys something before Hurricane Irma hits tomorrow and I don't know when I'll be able to update again. Probably within a few weeks or so, hopefully sooner. Depends if the power lines are damaged in the storm. Plus, I was already one week behind in posting and I didn't want to fall two weeks behind.**

 **Alright two things:**

 **1\. To everyone who is in the path of Hurricane Irma. PLEASE BE SAFE, THIS STORM IS NOT ONE TO MESS WITH! I wish all of you who are afflicted luck and please please be safe.**

 **2\. Thank you so much for the prayers and kind reviews I got during the A/N, I will promise that I will do everything in my power to be safe. My family and I are well prepared and now we just have to ride out the worst of it from here.**

 **Okay, that's all for now.**

 **Was it good? Was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**

 **Stay safe, guys. Irma is gonna be one heck of a ride.**


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm back, and I'm safe and sound! This is a little delayed since we didn't get power back until Sunday night. However, Tuesday evening and I'm ready to get back on schedule! Since I missed two weeks, I'm combining two chapters in this part to make up for it :-) Alright, enjoy!**

* * *

Going to school the next day was torture for Peter Parker. After Saturday's meeting at the Avenger's compound and him spending his entire morning and afternoon Sunday trying to figure out the confusing clues, he was dead tired. Oh yeah, on top of all that, the Shocker escaped from prison and Peter's been on high alert, watching over the city, waiting for the Shocker to strike. It's safe to say that Peter hadn't exactly gotten a lot sleep within the past twenty-four hours. In fact, if it weren't for his aunt waking him up, he probably would've been late to school. The last thing he needed right now was another detention. Aunt May would've killed him.

How he made it to school on time was a mystery to him. He missed the bus and ended up having to take the subway. He ran through the school doors right when the first bell rung, signifying the beginning of the school day. His first two classes went by in a blur, and he was grateful that he managed to stay awake this time. By the time lunch came around, Peter was relieved to have made it halfway through the day without getting a detention. Maybe this day wasn't so hopeless after all.

Grabbing a tray of food, Peter sat down in his usual spot, and began eating his food while letting himself get lost in thought.

So this is what he had so far: two goodbye messages, one for him and one for Fury; a post-it note sized device that is useless at the moment, for Peter is scared that if he typed another incorrect password, the thing would explode; oh, and he's also got that letter H that he found on the rooftop. The thing that Peter's been asking himself now was, so what now? What else could he do? It seemed to him that when he found a new way to go in the maze, he always hit another dead end. It was beginning to get a little frustrating, if you asked him.

"Earth to Peter Parker," The fingers snapping in his face made him jump. He looked over at Ned, who looked concerned. "Whoa, dude, it's just me. You zoned out."

"Sorry, Ned," Peter apologized. "Things have just been a little hectic lately."

"So you've been telling me," Ned nodded. "How's your little investigation going?" He asked, a little too loudly.

"Dude!" Peter warned him, his voice dropping. "You can't go around saying things like that like you want the world to hear them."

"Sorry," Ned lowered his voice.

"No, no, it's fine, it's just..." Peter sighed. "Well..."

"I get it," Ned waved it off. "Secret identity and stuff."

Peter shot his friend a sheepish smile.

"Did you see that the Shocker escaped from prison?" Ned asked.

"Yeah," Peter sighed. "Been up all night keeping a lookout."

"I can tell," Ned studied his friend. "However, I have a feeling it wasn't just because of a fugitive on the loose. When was the last time you got a good night's sleep, Pete?"

"I don't know," Peter shrugged.

"Exactly. This isn't healthy, dude," Ned chided. "I know you're worried about Mr. Stark and all, but you got to take care of yourself, man."

"I _am_ taking care of myself," Peter insisted, but even to his ears it sounded like a lie.

"Uh-huh," Ned wasn't convinced. There was a moment of silence before Ned said, "You found another dead end, didn't you?"

Peter winced, "That obvious?"

"A little," Ned admitted. "What's up now?"

"I got a late night visit last Friday from an... ally of the Avengers," Peter began slowly. "Told me to meet him at the Avenger's Compound the next morning, and when I did, there was a meeting. There was four of us, including me. A guy with an eyepatch, an agent and then War Machine. Basically, I filled them in on what's been happening and another message was printed from that strange device."

"Like the message you got?" Ned inquired, listening intently.

"Well, yeah, but not the same message, obviously," Peter elaborated. "I can't go into too much detail, but basically after that meeting, I went to a rooftop. Remember me telling you about Mr. Stark and me, how we argued and he took the suit back?"

Ned nodded.

"Well, I went there and I found a letter," Peter revealed.

"Can I see it?" Ned asked.

"What?" Peter frowned.

"You said you found a letter," Ned explained.

"Oh, no, not that type of letter," Peter clarified. "An actually _letter_. H, in fact."

"And you know it's not a coincidence how?" Ned queried.

"I found it engraved in the rooftop's door. It was so small and precise, Ned. Without my enhanced senses, I never would've known anything was there."

"Like the secret compartment?"

Peter nodded.

"Damn..." Ned whistled.

"I just don't know where to go now," Peter sighed.

"Well, try to find some connections," Ned supplied. "This argument you had on the rooftop, maybe it corresponded with what the message said. Maybe those two have a connection."

Something clicked in Peter's mind:

 _"I know. I..." Peter stuttered. "I just wanted to be like you," he admitted guilty._

 _Tony just looked at him in disappointment. "And I wanted you to be better."_

The argument... It was about how Tony wanted Peter to be better. Maybe those messages _aren't_ goodbye messages. What happened if they were clues? Clues to what? Who knows. Maybe the password?

"Ned, you're a genius!" Peter laughed.

"Glad I could be of service," Ned chuckled. The lunch bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Ned stood up, "Well, I'm off to Chem, see you sometime after school?"

Peter nodded, "Yeah, sure. We still got the lego Millennium Falcon to build."

"Sweet, see you dude," Ned waved before heading off.

As Peter began walking towards his classroom, he felt a sudden chill run down his spine. He tensed, stopping in the middle of the hall, only to result in Flash Thompson running into his back.

"Hey, watch it Puny Parker," Flash snapped as he shoved the teenager to the ground and stepped over him.

"Here," a hand came down to offer him some help in standing up.

Peter looked up, "Thanks, Michelle." He accepted the hand up.

"No problem, Flash gets on my nerves. He's a downright jerk, that's for sure," Michelle smiled. "Well, I'm off to Geometry. Be safe, Parker." She walked down the hall.

Peter got to his feet, looking around the hallways as the crowd began to disperse. He could've sworn someone was watching him... The tardy bell rang and Peter cursed, running to his English class.

* * *

When Peter requested to go to to the bathroom, he didn't expect his amber alert to go off. In fact, he was just walking back to his class when another set of chills ran down his spine. He paused. _Someone_ was definitely watching him. Spinning around, Peter got into a fighting stance, but there was no one there.

"What the hell?" Peter wondered. Great, not he was becoming paranoid.

He didn't have a lot of time to put thought into it, however. A second later his amber alert went off. Cursing, Peter checked his phone. Shocker attack downtown.

"I so do not need this right now," Peter complained, already running off, making a pit stop at his locker to grab his bag that had his suit. Running out of the doors, Peter only hoped that no one would notice his absence.

Perching in an alley, Peter quickly changed into his Spider-Man costume and immediately began to swing over to downtown Queens.

He honestly didn't know what he would find when he got to the scene of the crime. What he didn't expect was for the Shocker to be dressed in a freaking _unitard_. Like what the hell?

"Whoa, Shocky, did you come from gymnastics practice or something?" Spider-Man jested as he perched on top of a lamp post. "Let me just say, a unitard is not your style, dude."

"Spider-Man," Shocker growled, charging up his gloves. "Glad you could join the fight."

"Yeah, well, I think it's time you put some clothes on," Spider-Man remarked as he jumped to the ground, shot one of his webs that wrapped around the Shocker's gloves like handcuffs, and then spun him around before throwing him through the broken window of a clothes store.

Spider-Man slapped his hands together, "Well, that was too easy."

"I say you're getting a little overconfident, Peter," KAREN observed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Peter asked his AI.

"I mean, you just threw a criminal into a store full of 48 civilians," KAREN reported.

"What? Shit!" Peter yelped, running into the clothes store.

Let's just say that the next ten minutes were the worse minutes of Peter's superhero career. He was thrown around a few times, punched and kicked and throttled, until finally Peter got the idea to jam the Shocker's gloves and overload them- causing them to explode.

"Took you long enough," KAREN remarked, amused.

"Ugh... I hate you," Peter groaned, pushing himself off of the floor. He webbed the Shocker up, placed a little note for the authorities and made a beeline back to the school.

Back in his casual clothes, Peter ran back into the building, backpack over his shoulder only to run straight into the principal.

"Glad to see you've finally joined us, Mr. Parker," The principal crossed her arms.

"Um... I was just..." Peter began.

"Yeah, save it," She sighed. "Follow me."

"Yes, ma'am," Peter's shoulder's sagged in defeat.

Aunt May was going to kill him...

* * *

Peter was screwed. He was so screwed.

After being caught skipping class, even if it was to fight off a villain, the principal let him off easy with a week's worth of detention. That was the good news. The bad news? He came home to a seriously pissed off Aunt May.

Walking into the apartment, Peter knew he was in deep trouble when he was greeted with his Aunt standing in front of him, her hands on her hips and a disappointed expression on her face.

"Aunt May, I can explain," He began.

"Then please enlighten me," She exclaimed. "Peter, this isn't the first time this has happened! What's gotten into you lately? Skipping class, skipping _school_ , that's not you."

"I..." Peter trailed off, not sure what to say considering he really couldn't tell the truth in a situation like this.

May sighed, rubbing a hand through her hair. "Peter..." She went over to sit down at the table. "I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything," Peter reassured her.

"No, I damn right have to say something. I just... I raised you better than this. I don't understand," She looked at her nephew, studying him with a disappointed expression.

"I know, I..." Peter began.

"It's not drugs, right? Or gangs?" She asked.

Peter was surprised. "What? No! No, it's nothing like that."

"Then what is it, cause it's obviously something," May practically pleaded. "Peter, you know you can tell me anything. Did you get a girl pregnant or something?"

"No!" Peter shook his head rapidly. "God, no. It's just... you wouldn't understand." Okay, that was sort of the truth. Peter knew his aunt would've understood why he was doing what he did, it's just... if May found out, then he knew it would be the end of Spider-Man. May already lost Ben... she wouldn't want to lose her nephew too. It'd be too much to bear.

"Then make me understand, I just..." May trailed off, her shoulder's slumping.

"May, I'm sorry," Peter apologized.

"I just expected better from you, Peter," May sighed, the fight going out of her. "Just... go to your room."

Feeling like a little kid again, Peter dropped his head and stalked into his room, his mood instantly killed. Flinging his backpack onto the ground, Peter threw himself onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Sometimes having a secret identity really sucked. You do things for the greater good, but no matter what, you're always gonna find some way to hurt those closest to you. The punishment Peter could handle, the disappointment on his Aunt's face... That hurts the most. It's not just the fact that May was angry at him, again, that he could deal with. It's when he actually _saw_ how disappointed she was at him for his actions... That sucked.

There have been so many times within the past several months when Peter gave a spilt second thought about telling his aunt, but he kew that he was just kidding himself. As much as Peter trusted May to keep his identity, Peter wouldn't risk her safety. It was better if she was kept in the dark, even if it hurt him to see how confused she is at his recent actions. If that was the price Peter had to pay to keep her safe, then he would take that any day.

Turning onto his side, Peter frowned. There was a brown paper bag on his desk. Why was there a brown paper bag on his desk? How the hell should Peter know why there was a paper bag on his desk? It wasn't there when he left for school this morning.

Getting up from his bed, Peter walked over to his desk and grabbed the yellow post-it note attached to the outside of the bag.

 _"Thought you'd want to do the honors since you're the one who found it." -C_

"C?" Peter frowned. Reaching into the bag, Peter pulled out a burner phone. "Coulson," Peter realized, letting out a breathy laugh. "You son of a bitch."

Flipping open the burner phone, Peter was pleasantly surprised to find the screen had turned on. There was only one number and it was plugged in on speed dial. Peter dialed the number.

 _"Hello?" A familiar voice answered._

Peter almost dropped the phone in shock. Captain America? The Steve Rogers? The guy's shield that Peter stole? The team he'd fought in Germany?

 _"Tony, is that you?" Steve asked, almost hopeful._

"Captain America?" Peter stuttered, unsure what to say.

 _"Who is this?"_

Peter was taken aback at how fast the hero's tone switched from friendly to wary, borderline-hostile. Peter stumbled over his words, trying to find the right thing to say, "You, uh, probably don't remember me but I'm Pe... Spider-Man. I'm Spider-Man."

 _"The kid from Queens?"_

"That's me."

 _"Forgive my confusion, but how did you acquire this phone?"_

"..." Peter was shocked, and then he became a little sad. Did he really have to break the news to him. "Um... Have you seen the news recently?"

 _"I'm in a place that doesn't exactly have USA news here, kid."_

"Mr. Stark... Uh, I mean, Iron Man's missing."

 _"Excuse me?" Steve was shocked._

"He's been taken," Peter explained. "The Tower's trashed... he's been missing for close to two weeks now."

There was complete silence for two minutes and Peter was scared that the call disconnected.

"Hello?" Peter tried. "Captain America, sir?"

 _"I'm here," Steve replied. "I just... I needed to sit down. Are you at the compound?"_

"No..." Peter began.

 _"Be there tomorrow afternoon."_

"Okay, but..." Peter began, but the line already disconnected. Peter closed the phone. "Well... shit."

* * *

 **Can I say something really crazy? This story is already over 20,000k words and it's one of the longest stories I've ever committed myself to writing.**

 **Also, I hope you enjoyed the longer chapter, even if it was 2 chapters combined into one part. I will be continuing my posting schedule of a chapter being posted every Sunday. However, I will say this in advance, some chapters may be a day or two late and if they are, school and marching band is the reason. Do not fret though, if they're late, I'll make sure to make them a little lengthier to make up for it :-)**

 **Alright, I'll stop there.**

 **Was it good, was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**

 **P.S. We have surpassed 200 follows! Thanks for the support! It means a lot to me to know that people love the story as much as I love writing it!**

 **P.P.S. Thank you for the well wishes during Hurricane Irma, it was definitely a scary hurricane! I hope everyone that was affected are alright!**

 **See you on Sunday!**


	14. Chapter 14

Peter didn't arrive at the Avenger's Compound the next day until closer to 4:00 in the afternoon. He was already violating his aunt's orders of coming straight home after detention, and he was also _late_ at meeting the freaking _Avengers_. He just hoped all of this was worth it. If it wasn't, he's gonna order a refund on being a Superhero.

Peter swung onto the Compound's front lawn in his suit, and he immediately had a flashback to the Saturday meeting with Fury and Coulson. Wasn't he late for that too? Gosh, he really needed to convince everyone that he was usually on time for everything. He blamed life for getting in the way.

The thing that slapped him in the face, however, was him realizing he left the "case" items back at the apartment. He mentally kicked himself at that fact since he set the items on his desk the night before and didn't put them back in his bag in time for school. He was supposed to have them with him! That was the whole point of the meeting in the first place!

Sighing in defeat at not only being incredibly late, but for also being an oblivious idiot, Peter slumped his shoulders in defeat. Why didn't anything go right for once? Did he really have _that_ bad of luck? Peter just shook his head and walked inside, prepared to be chewed out.

As he entered the building, it was eerily quiet and that was nerve-wracking. Also, this time, there was no one there to greet him. Biting his lip, Peter made his way into the main room where he found Steve, Clint, Sam and Natasha sitting on the couches.

"Look who finally decided to show up," Hawkeye remarked.

"Sorry, I, uh, I had detention," Spider-Man admitted lamely. Peter was so glad he had his mask on, because he knew that he was blushing. He always blushed when he was flustered.

"Detention?" Sam raised an eyebrow in his direction. "Man, I knew you were young, but not _that_ young."

Steve shot Falcon a warning look before standing up and walking over to Peter with a small smile on his face. "Good to meet you properly this time." Steve held out his hand, "Steve Rogers."

"Spider-Man," Peter shook his hand. "Sorry for stealing your shield."

Steve just shrugged, "Pretty impressive for a rookie."

"Yeah, I guess," Peter mumbled, feeling his face heat up more because of the compliment.

"So, if you don't mind me asking," Sam interrupted, "How old _are_ you?"

"Um..." Peter hesitated awkwardly.

Steve shot another reprimanding look at Sam before saying, "You don't have to say anything you don't want to."

Peter _wanted_ to, god he really did. It's just, he knew that if they knew he was just fifteen, almost sixteen... He had a good feeling they wouldn't take him seriously. "I'd rather not say," Peter admitted.

"Then I can assure you that we don't mind," Natasha promised.

"But..." Clint began but yelped when Natasha elbowed him in the ribs. "Yeah, we're cool over here."

"So..." Steve cleared his throat after a minute of awkward silence, "You said Tony was missing?"

"Yes," Peter nodded. "He's been missing for almost two weeks."

"And no one notified us earlier?" Natasha frowned.

"I didn't even know you were still in contact with him," Peter defended himself. "If I had known..."

"Don't sweat it, kid," Steve reassured Peter. "Just start from the beginning. What happened?"

"I got worried when Mr. Stark hadn't reached out in a while so I went over to the tower and found it completely trashed," Peter explained, choosing his words carefully. "There was glass everywhere, a hole in the floor and his lab looked like someone was searching for something. The alarming part was that his lab door was wide open _and_ the hole in the floor led to his lab."

"Why didn't the alarms go off? Didn't FRIDAY alert you at the time of the abduction?" Clint frowned.

"No," Peter shook his head. "I got there and FRIDAY'S mainframe was down. I tried to get her back up, but you know Iron Man. That guy is a little too obsessed with passwords for his own good."

"How do you know that he was taken and not killed?" Sam asked.

That was a slap to the face. That guy really was blunt.

"Sam," Steve admonished.

"It's fine," Peter shrugged. "To answer your question, I _don't_ know if he's alive, I'm just going on the hope that he is alive. There were a few things that I found in the tower that night."

"Like what?" That perked Natasha's interest.

"There was a device hidden in a secret compartment that was embedded in the wall," Peter revealed. "It opened for me using a retinal scan."

"That's a little too extreme, even for Tony" Steve frowned.

"What was the device?" Clint asked.

"I'm not to sure. It was the size of a post-it note. The keyboard's in morse code and it needs a password," Peter explained. "That thing is full of surprises though. Two messages have been printed from it and I still can't figure out what triggers it."

"Messages?" Steve furrowed his brows in confusion.

"First one was printed for me, the second for Fury," Peter said.

"What kind of messages were they?" Natasha inquired.

"They sounded an awful lot like goodbye messages to me. Now, though, I'm not so sure," Peter admitted.

"You said the device needed a password?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Peter nodded.

"Do you know what the password is?"

"Don't you think I would've told you that already if I did?" Peter snapped. He sighed, "Sorry, it's been a long day and that's the exhaustion and frustration talking."

"It's cool dude," Falcon gave him a reassuring smile.

"Do you have the device with you?" Clint asked, his tone hopeful.

"Sorry, but no, I don't," Peter apologized. "I forgot to bring it with me. I swear I thought I packed it, but I guess I was wrong. I should've checked though, so yes, it's my fault. I'm sorry..."

"Wow, Spider-Man, slow down," Steve walked over and placed a grounding hand on the kid's shoulder. "It's okay. You can bring it sometime tomorrow and we'll check it out. We're human, we forget, it's okay. We're not mad, we're just worried."

Peter took in a deep breath and steadied his emotions. "Yeah, I'm worried too."

"Before, you said that you thought the messages were goodbye messages, but now you weren't so sure," Steve recalled. "What do you mean by that?"

"I found something that I think is another step forward in this crazy situation," Peter admitted. "The message that Mr. Stark left for me was words that he said to me many times before. However, he originally said it on a rooftop. When I went back to that rooftop, I found a letter engraved into the stairway door."

"And it's not a coincidence how?" Clint asked, not following.

"I have enhanced senses," Peter explained. "This letter was so small and precise that there's no doubt in my mind that Mr. Stark was the one who put it there. Without my senses, I would never have seen it."

"That does sound like something Tony would do," Steve smiled sadly.

"So you think that the messages correspond with a certain place," Natasha clarified.

Peter nodded.

"Well, it's a good start," Natasha sighed. "What was Fury's message?"

"Something about him telling Fury that he didn't want to be in his superhero boy band," Peter tried to remember. "I don't remember it word for word."

Natasha froze.

Peter studied her for a moment before saying, "You know where the place is, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," Natasha sighed. "I was there."

"Well, where is it? Maybe we can go now..." Peter began.

"No, we can't," Natasha cut him off.

"Why not?" Peter asked.

"Because it's all the way back in Malibu," Natasha stated. "I'll talk to Fury, we'll send someone over there to check it out."

"But what happens if you need enhanced seeing to be able to find something?" Peter asked.

"Then I'll tell Fury that Steve will be the one to go," Natasha crossed her arms.

"Why not take me with you?" Peter continued.

"Because, if you had detention, that means you have school," Natasha replied.

"That's a really lame excuse," Peter scoffed.

"Fine," Natasha stood up. "Then how about this. I'll talk with Fury and he'll make the calls. We'll keep you updated."

Peter stepped back a few steps, not liking the creepy vibe coming off of her. "You're intimidating, did anyone every tell you that?"

"Of course I'm intimidating," Natasha smirked. "I am an assassin after all."

"Don't mess with her, kid," Clint advised. "I'd do what she says."

"Natasha, back off," Steve pinched his nose, as if he was willing away a headache. "Spider-Man, Natasha's right. We'll talk to Fury and make some calls. In the mean time, patience is going to be your worst enemy."

"It already is," Peter pointed out.

"Let's just call it an afternoon, yeah?" Steve suggested. "Why don't you get on home and do some... school stuff."

Peter sighed. "Fine. Call me if you find anything, please."

"We will," Steve promised. "Take care in the meantime, kid."

"I'm not a kid," Peter grumbled as he stalked out of the compound. Why were adults so infuriating sometimes?

* * *

 **It feel's good to be back on my regular posting schedule. Not much of a long author's note this time so I'll keep it short and sweet :-) Thank you to those who read/followed/favorited/reviewed last chapter. The support is amazing and thank you so much! See you next week!**

 **Was it good? Was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Alright, I'm gonna clear up a few things since a few people have asked me about them.**

 **Keep in mind that I started this fic a few weeks before Spider-Man: Homecoming came out in theaters. So I made some minor changes in the fic that went against what happened in Homecoming. One, Tony didn't sell Avenger's Tower. Two, Aunt May DOES NOT know Peter is Spider-Man.**

 **Hopefully that clears up any confusion! Enjoy!**

* * *

It's been a few days since Peter's chat with the Avengers and he's been left in the dark. He's heard nothing from them in the last few days and it bugged the crap out of him. Did they forget that he was there? Did they forget that he was the one that called them in? Was it because of how young he was?

Let's just say that Peter wasn't a happy camper.

As he sat down in his English classroom, Peter began to think of a new approach. He had to check in on them, but he didn't want to seem like a rookie. He's been Spider-Man for almost a year now. He's saved New York from the Vulture and he's saved his friends at the Washington Monument. He wanted people to see a hero when they looked at Spider-Man, not some rookie who was too young to see a rated R movie.

Maybe he should just go to the compound in his human alias. He was Mr. Stark's intern after all, so that shouldn't be too weird to show up and ask about his case, right?

Peter could just see that conversation in his head.

 _"Hello, yeah, I'm Peter Parker. Mr. Stark gave me an internship at SI last summer. He's been missing for awhile now so I just wanted to see if he was here by any chance? Happy's been ignoring my calls so..."_

 _Peter, that is so lame,_ He thought to himself.

"Mr. Parker?" Mrs. Heidenfield called out, her tone sounded impatient.

Peter snapped back into reality, "I'm sorry?"

"Are you still with us?" Mrs. Heidenfield crossed her arms.

Peter smiled sheepishly, "I am now. Sorry, Mrs. Heidenfield."

She just nodded and continued on to teach the class.

 _Way to go, Peter, you just pissed off the only teacher whose good side you were on,_ Peter berated himself.

When the class ended a few minutes later, Peter got up from his seat in the back of the class and made his way towards the door.

"Peter, can I see you for a moment?" Mrs. Heidenfield asked.

"Yeah," Peter frowned, but walked up to her desk.

"What's going on with you Peter, you haven't been yourself for the past few weeks. Falling asleep in class, daydreaming, failing your tests. You were an A student before. Now you're grades are slipping." Mrs. Heidenfield broke to him. "May is a dear friend of mine, you know that, and she's really worried about you."

"I'm fine," Peter reassured her. "Just a lot has been going on lately and I guess I'm just struggling to keep up with it all."

Mrs. Heidenfield sighed. "You still need to make up that test you missed when you skipped. Come by tomorrow, I need to have it graded by Friday."

"Yes, ma'am," Peter nodded.

She scribbled down a hall pass. "Now get to your last class."

As Peter walked down the empty halls of his school, he got that prickly sensation on the back of his neck again. He froze. Without giving another thought about it, Peter dove under the cover of a hallway desk just as the first round of gunshots broke through the school doors. As he slid under the desk, he wasn't fast enough and felt a sharp pain shoot up his forearm. He hissed in pain as he grabbed his arm and his hand came away with blood.

"Shit," Peter cursed, rummaging through his bag. Growing more frantic when he couldn't find what he was looking for, Peter mentally growled in frustration. He must've left his web shooters in his locker! How was he supposed to reach that? He'd have to cross the direct line of fire.

Round after round, shots were fired and it never ceased. Then something occurred to Peter. They weren't shooting at _him_ or anyone in particular. They were shooting at a wall. When the rounds finally ceased, Peter ducked his head out and saw two drones flying out of the school. A split second later, the fire alarms sounded and the sprinklers went off.

Crawling out from under the desk, Peter was gripping his shoulder to stifle the bleeding. Turning around, Peter looked at what the drones were drilling into the wall with bullets. It was a message, and Peter know exactly who it was for.

Four words: KEEP DIGGING, YOU'RE NEXT.

It wasn't just a message.

It was a warning.

* * *

When the fire trucks, EMTs, and police arrived on the scene, they immediately attended to Peter, whose arm was sluggishly beginning to stop bleeding. It wasn't a major injury, just a fair graze to the shoulder that needed a few stitches.

Some police officers also came over to question him.

"Hello, son, I'm Deputy Charleston, this is my partner, Durant. We would like to ask you some questions if you don't mind?" The middle-aged officer asked. He had light hair and dark blue eyes.

"Uh, sure," Peter nodded, still a little shaken.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Durant questioned.

"Um, I was walking to my Algebra class when the first shots rang out. Ducked for cover, but I guess I was a little too slow," He gestured to his shoulder which was being tended to.

"Did you see who the shooter was?" Charleston asked.

Peter shook his head. Okay, that wasn't necessarily a lie. He saw that the shooters were drones, but he didn't know who was controlling the drones.

"Alright, well, I'm giving you my card," Durant handed him a business card. "You remember anything of importance you let us know right away."

"Yes, sir," Peter nodded.

They left him be after that. As his shoulder was still being tended to, Peter let his mind wander. The incident did shake him up a bit, not because he got shot, though. Peter had a feeling that was just because he was in the way of the drones' job to deliver a message. A message that was directed for Peter personally.

KEEP DIGGING, YOU'RE NEXT

Whoever wrote the message must have not liked that Peter was digging into Tony's disappearance. What scared him the most though, was the fact that the person _knew_ who he was, mask or no mask and that the person knew where he went to _school_. Did that mean that Ned and May were in potential danger? Did he screw up by not leaving things be when he should've? It was unnerving.

"Peter!" Happy's voice had his head snapping up. Thank god. The Head of Security guy walked up to him and noticed his shoulder. "You actually got shot? What the hell, kid? Are you you okay?"

"I'm fine, Happy," Peter sighed. "It was just a minor graze."

"A graze that needs stitches?" Happy challenged.

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't call you, alright? How the hell did you find out about this anyway?" Peter asked.

"Midtown High made headline news," Happy answered, mentally scanning Peter for anymore injuries. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Peter rolled his eyes. He liked Happy, don't get him wrong, the guy was cool, but he could go from indifferent to mother hen in a split second. "Yes, Happy."

"Then what the hell happened?" Happy demanded.

"Shooting what do you think?" Peter retorted.

Happy gave him a look that said, 'no shit, Sherlock.'

Peter just shot him a look that said, 'not now.'

A few minutes later the EMT finished up and that he was free to go home. Happy immediately ushered him into the car and sped off.

"Now, you gonna tell me what happened back there?" Happy asked.

"There was a shooting," Peter shrugged. "I don't know what else you want me to say."

"I can tell when you're lying, kid. You're a shitty liar," Happy reprimanded him.

Peter sighed. "The shooter wasn't a person, Happy. It was two drones loaded with ammunition."

"Drones?" Happy repeated.

"Drones," Peter confirmed.

"And what did it want? How come you seemed to have been the only one shot?"

"Because I _was_ the only one shot. Those drones weren't out for blood, Happy. They were there to deliver a message, namely a message for me."

Happy shot him a look in the rearview mirror. "What message?" By the look on his face, Peter was sure Happy already knew the answer.

"It told me that if I kept digging, I'd be next," Peter revealed.

Happy slammed on the brakes and made a sharp u-turn.

Peter jolted in his seat and his stitched arm throbbed, "What the hell, Happy? I thought I was going home?"

"You're not going home." Happy shook his head. "You're going to the compound."

"What? Why?" Peter frowned. "Is everyone okay?"

"Everyone's fine except you," Happy replied. "If that message really was for you, you've got a much bigger problem on your hands. Not only did the sender of that message know your human identity, but there's a damn good chance it knows your Spider-Man too. You'd be a lot safer at the compound than back at your apartment."

"I'm a superhero, Happy. I don't need protection, I can defend myself," Peter objected. "Come on, May will flip out."

"I'm responsible for you right now and I say you need more protection than you think. You're safer with the Avengers right now. May is safer without you right now. Don't worry about her, I'll talk to her. Trust me on this one, Peter, because I'm not changing my mind."

"What should I say to the others, Happy? They don't know I'm Spider-Man," Peter asked. He really didn't want them to find out this way.

"I don't care whether they know your other identity or not. Just say you're Tony's intern at SI," Happy grumbled.

"Huh," Peter thought. "I guess that might just work out."

* * *

 **Was this chapter a little bit dramatic and out of nowhere? Maybe. I needed a chapter this week and I kind of wrote this when I was sick with a fever, so the idea was kinda whacky. Let's just say it wasn't my best chapter.**

 **Thank you to everyone who read/followed/reviewed/favorited! The support is amazing you guys never cease to amaze me!**

 **Was it good? Was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Two weeks and I'm back! Sorry for the lack of updates. I needed a short break from writing to focus on school. Now that things seem to have settled back down now, I decided to see if I can catch up on some late posting. Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

It took about an hour and a half before Happy's car finally arrived at the Avenger's Compound. To say Peter was nervous, well that would be a little bit of an understatement. Alright, it would be a major understatement. He was anxious. On the car ride upstate, Peter carefully formed a story in his head of what he would tell the Avengers and he was pretty satisfied at how solid it sounded.

Now, though, as the car pulled to a stop at the entrance, Peter felt his mind go blank. He really didn't want the rest of the team to find out his identity like this. He wanted to prove himself to them first and then tell them his identity when he was ready. Right now, he was certainly not ready at all.

"Come on, kid," Happy unbuckled his seat belt before getting out of the car. When Peter didn't move, Happy poked his head back inside. "You coming or what?"

Peter blinked, coming back to reality. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." He scrambled out of the car, almost stumbling as his foot caught on the rim of the car door. He yelped before he managed to catch himself.

"Jesus, how on Earth do you survive with coordination like that," Happy commented. He began to walk towards the entrance. "Come on."

Peter ran to catch up with him. "Happy, what the hell am I supposed to say?"

"What you've been mumbling for the past hour and a half," Happy replied.

"Wait, what?" Peter frowned.

"You think out loud a lot, kid," Happy said. "You might want to work on that." Happy opened the door for Peter and Peter walked through.

It felt weird being here without his suit on. Sure, it's not the first time he's been here as Peter Parker, but even then it was one time and that was several months ago. He felt younger all of a sudden, more insecure than he wanted to admit. He wasn't really sure why he felt that way, it's like Peter felt as if parental eyes were watching his every move.

Happy glanced over his shoulder at the wide-eyed teen and finally sighed, taking pity on him. "Just take a deep breath, kid. You'll be fine."

As they emerged into the training room, Peter froze in his place as he saw Steve in a loose t-shirt and sweats training with Sam, who was wearing his wing suit. They were locked in intense combat before Happy cleared his throat and then everything just stopped. It was quite comical, actually, Peter had to admit to himself. It was like those cartoons that seem to make the world pause what it was doing.

However, comical quickly turned into anxiety as the quietness of the room began to make Peter fidget.

"Gentlemen," Happy greeted.

"Happy," Steve frowned, panting a little as he caught his breath. "What can I do for you?"

"WPP," Happy stated.

Peter frowned, "What?"

"Witness Protection? Who and why?" Sam landed back on the ground, his mechanical wings folding back into the suit.

"Meet Peter Parker," Happy gestured to Peter who was looking at the ground, not wanting to meet the heroes' eyes. "Tony's intern."

"Tony has an intern? Since when?" Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Since some time after Siberia," Happy answered.

"He looks pretty young to be an intern," Sam commented.

Peter felt his cheeks heat up, "I'm right here, you know."

"What's going on here, Happy?" Steve asked.

"There was a shooting at Peter's high school, Midtown High," Happy stated.

Steve's eyes widened, "What?" He glanced over at a flustered Peter. "Are you okay?"

Peter just nodded, not sure why he cowered into himself a little bit.

 _Stop it, Peter, you're stronger than this,_ Peter berated himself. Why was he acting so childish? It's like the confidence he had when he was in the suit had vanished. Then again, Peter knew why. A mask was safer because you could hide behind it. Now, it felt like Peter was vulnerable. He hated being vulnerable.

"So why bring him here? I bet his family is worried about him," Sam's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"There's reason to believe that the shooting was a warning," Happy explained.

"What?" Steve's posture straightened, as if he was getting ready to protect something. "Warning for who?"

"A warning for me," Peter finally spoke up.

The two heroes' gazes shot to the teen.

"What was the message?" Sam asked.

"It said I was next," Peter felt himself shudder. Just thinking about the message on the wall sent chills down his spine. And alright, he might've lied a little bit, but he could bend the truth. What he said was still true, it's just... it wasn't the entire truth.

Steve froze.

Sam frowned, "I still don't understand."

"He has a connection to Tony," Steve realized. "Being his intern, they're after you now."

Peter just shrugged, "Guess so."

"Well, I'll just leave him in your care, then," Happy chimed in. "I have his aunt to inform and then I have to make a few phone calls. Careful with this one, he's a troublemaker." Happy began to walk out the door.

"Happy, wait!" Peter protested.

"Adios!" Happy didn't look back.

As the door closed behind him, Peter sighed. "Or not."

A throat was cleared and Peter turned around to look over at Sam, who was examining him. It made Peter uncomfortable.

"Alright uh, Sam, why don't you show..." Steve trailed off a little awkwardly.

"Peter," Peter supplied.

"Right, Peter," Steve nodded his thanks. "Why don't you show Peter to his room?"

Sam looked over at Steve for a moment before nodding. "Follow me."

Sam started off at a fast pace and Peter had to almost jog to keep up.

"I hope you don't mind rooming next to Vision. He's not big on doors... or walls, but it's the only open quarters we have at the moment," Sam said.

"That's, uh, that's fine," Peter replied.

As they got into the elevator, Peter took a moment to catch his breath. The silence was overwhelming and it made Peter antsy.

"So, how old are you, Peter?" Sam's voice caused him to jump.

"Oh, uh, I'm fifteen," Peter answered.

"A little jumpy too, I see," Sam observed.

"Yeah, well, I think I have a reason to be a little on edge," Peter replied. Sam's arrogant voice was starting to get a little tiring.

Sam nodded, "Valid point, there."

The awkward and tense silence continued as the elevator came to a stop two floors up. Peter wordlessly followed Falcon through the hallways and to one of the bedroom doors.

"Here we are," Sam came to a stop. "Dining hall is on the bottom floor. Take two lefts from the elevator and you'll get there no problem. Anything else?"

Peter just clutched his backpack tighter as he shook his head.

Sam nodded. "Alright. Well, Cap is one floor below the second door on the right, I'm one more above fifth door on the left. If you need anything else, just buzz us with the intercom."

"Thank you," Peter mumbled before escaping into the bedroom quarters and closing the door behind him.

A few seconds after the door clicked shut, Peter turned to lean his back against the door frame and he felt his legs finally give out. He was ashamed to feel a few tears fall down his face as he finally let the fear course through his veins.

Having taken a nap after his minor breakdown, Peter decided he had well earned a nice hot shower. After he had gotten out of the shower, Peter got dressed in a pair of sweats before walking out into his bedroom to sit at the desk in the corner of the room.

The bedroom quarters were really roomy. There was a desk, which Peter was at right now, it looked as if it could be used as a computer desk or even just a _work_ desk. There was a king size bed in the middle of the room, an adjoined private bathroom and a balcony. Let's just say that it definitely beat any hotel room that Peter had stayed in.

As he sat down on the desk, he took the first aid kit that he had gotten from the bathroom and pulled out another gauze roll and a bandage. Taking one of the anti-septic wipes, Peter went to clean the stitched wound on his forearm when a knock came from the door that caused Peter jump. He spun around to see Steve standing in the open doorway.

The man looked sheepish. "I'm sorry... The door was unlocked and JJ let me in."

"JJ?" Peter frowned.

"Jarvis Jr. He's the compound's AI," Steve explained. "Well... prototype AI. He doesn't do much complex stuff. Just you're ordinary house AI."

Peter just nodded.

"You get hurt?" Steve frowned.

"Oh, uh, one of the bullets grazed me," Peter admitted.

"Wait, you actually got shot? I thought Happy said the shooter was just sending a warning?" Steve was alert in an instant, coming over to inspect Peter's wound.

"It was there to send a warning. I just happened to have gotten in the way," Peter didn't know what to say. He was stunned at the Captain's reaction.

"Why didn't you or Happy say anything?" Steve asked.

"I didn't think it was necessary," Peter shrunk back in his chair. It was like he was a puppy that was getting scolded.

Steve must've realized he was being overbearing and he backed off. "Sorry. The team warns me that I turn full mother hen mode sometimes."

Peter blinked, "No, it's fine. I just didn't expect that."

A moment of silence passed before Steve scratched the back of his neck, "I, uh. I just wanted to tell you that Wanda was cooking up some lasagna if you wanted to join us."

"Um..." Peter thought about that for a second. "I don't know..."

"You don't have to," Steve reassured him. "It was just an invitation. I can have Sam or Clint bring you up a plate if you want to stay here."

"I might do that," Peter looked down at his hands. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't apologize," Steve smiled gently at him. "You've had quiet the adventure today. It's understandable if you want to be alone."

Peter gave him a grateful look. "Thank you."

"It's no problem, really," Steve said. "Do need help bandaging that up?" Steve gestured to Peter's wound.

"What?" Peter looked down at his forearm. "Oh, no, it's okay. I got it."

"Alright," Steve sighed. "If you change your mind about dinner, I'll let JJ inform you when it's done."

"Thank you, Captain Rogers," Peter repeated.

"Please, call me Steve," Steve gave him another smile. "And, as I said before, it's not a problem at all."

After Steve said those words, Peter was left alone to his own accord, as he began to feel sorry for lying to the Captain's face. They can't know his identity. Not yet. Not until Tony is back home safe and sound.

* * *

 **Poor Peter :( He's so overwhelmed right now. Anyways, what'd you guys think? Was it good? Was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**


	17. Chapter 17

Peter spent the next twenty minutes glaring at his Investigation journal, as if drilling a hole into the paper with his frustrations would be the answer to everything. He was so close to calling it quits and just resigning everything. Okay, not literally, obviously, he wouldn't be able look at himself in the mirror ever again if he ever did that. However, that didn't mean that Peter couldn't think about it.

 _How do detectives do this every single day of their lives?_ Peter wondered. _I'd quit after the first day._

He was so lost in thought that he really didn't expect the AI to interrupt his misery.

"Mr. Parker, Captain Rogers has asked me to inform you that dinner is ready if you have changed your mind," JJ's announcement made Peter jump onto the ceiling as a reflex.

When Peter realized he didn't royally screw up and it was just the AI, he stuttered, "Uh..." Did he really want to go down for dinner and face the interrogation he just knew was waiting for him? His stomach practically answered that question when it let out a loud grumbling noise. Screw interrogation, if there was food, then he'd survive. "I'll be right down."

"Very well," JJ replied and everything was quiet.

Peter slowly lowered himself back down to the floor, ignoring the slight twinge in his injured arm. He looked down at himself and wondered if it was okay if he just went down in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. Or did he have to wear something more casual and less pajama like?

 _Screw it._ Peter thought. _Let's go meet my doom._

As Peter made his way down to the dining hall, he was ashamed to have gotten lost three times before he made his way back to the elevator. He probably should've payed more attention when Sam was giving him directions. Then again, in his defense, Peter was half out of his mind in fear and shock.

Anyways, it was probably close to a half hour before Peter walked into the the doorway of the kitchen, where the Avengers were engaged in conversation. Steve looked up and saw Peter, and he smiled.

"Glad you decided to join us, Peter," Steve greeted him.

"I, uh... I would've been here sooner, but this place is a maze," Peter apologized.

"See, I told you!" Clint burst out. "This place is a freaking mirror maze of glass, glass and more glass!"

Natasha elbowed him in the ribs and told him to shut up.

Steve stood up. "Come on, why don't you sit down and I'll get you a plate."

Peter mumbled his thanks, suddenly feeling like a child again. He sat down at the end of the table, Clint and Wanda in the seats next to him.

"So, you must be Peter Parker, Tony's intern," Wanda greeted with a smile. "It's good to finally meet you."

Peter returned a shy smile.

Steve returned a moment later and set down a plate of lasagna down in front of him before returning to his own seat.

"So, Peter, Steve filled us in. Shooting at school. Must've been pretty scary, huh?" Clint asked bluntly.

"Uh... Yeah," Peter nodded, not meeting their eyes as he took a bite of the food. He sighed in relief. "That's good stuff."

Wanda chuckled, "Why, thank you. Tony taught me the recipe when I first moved into the compound."

"Mr. Stark cooked?" Peter was shocked. "I thought he only lived on fast food and coffee?"

"Tony's a man of wonders," Clint pointed out. "You'd be surprised at to what he has up his sleeves."

"Yeah, believe me, I know," Peter nodded.

"So, when did you become an intern at SI?" Natasha wondered.

Peter noticed her studying glance and it made him uncomfortable. "The summer of my sophomore year. I went to SI on a field trip at the my freshman year and Tony took an interest in me. Right when school got out, I started the internship right away." Peter lied.

"He never mentioned anything," Rhodey frowned.

Peter shrugged, "As you said, Mr. Stark is full of surprises."

Sam cleared his throat, "If you don't mind me asking. Why did Happy bring you here and not to your folks? Don't you have a mother and father worrying about you?"

Peter returned his gaze to the plate. "My mom and dad passed when I was very young. My Aunt and Uncle raised me. It's been just me and my aunt for the past year and a half."

There was an eery silence before Wanda spoke gently. "What happened to your Uncle?"

"He passed too." Peter's reply was quiet.

"Cancer?" Rhodey wondered.

"Gunshot," Peter corrected.

"Oh," Rhodey was shocked. "I'm sorry."

"Whatever, it's cool," Peter shrugged. "To answer your question though," Peter looked at Sam. "Happy made the call to bring me here. I wouldn't be here if he hadn't had the final choice. No offense to anyone of you, but I'm really worried about my Aunt right now."

"No offense taken," Steve reassured him.

After taking a finishing his plate in silence, Peter got up, washed his dish and bid the other Avengers goodnight. He wasn't really sure what caused him to react the way he did, but suddenly Peter just wanted to be left alone. On the positive side, Peter was pretty sure that by avoiding the Avengers as much as possible, he'd less likely screw up and let something slip about his alter ego.

After returning to his room, Peter crawled into bed and fell asleep.

When Peter got up at five the next morning, he wanted more than anything to just roll over and fall back asleep. However, he knew he couldn't do that, for he had work to do. After getting dressed into a comfortable t-shirt and loose jeans, Peter grabbed his backpack that held the strange device, and slung it over his shoulder.

If it was one thing that Peter was sure of, it was that Tony had a lab somewhere in this facility. Knowing the billionaire, Peter would be downright shocked is Tony didn't have a lab in close vicinity. Correction, the day that Tony did not have a workspace nearby for his inventions will be the day that the world ends. And if Peter was right about the lab, then he can use his SI Internship keycard to gain access to it. Then again, Peter wasn't supposed to use the card except for emergencies, but in the current circumstances, this qualified as an emergency.

It only took twenty minutes for Peter to both locate and enter the lab. He asked JJ to keep his whereabouts quite until either Steve or Rhodey called him. He trusted those two men more than he wanted to admit. Rhodey because he was Tony's best friend, and Steve because... well... Steve was once Tony's friend too, more than that, they were brothers in everything but blood. If Tony trusted Steve with his life then Peter did too.

The next two hours consisted of Peter trying to find a way to pry the device open. If there were messages being printed from the device, Peter had a hunch that they were pre-printed and not sent from a computer to _be_ printed. If the messages were pre-printed, then if Peter could carefully disassemble the device to the point where he can retrieve the remaining messages, then maybe he could speed the process along of figuring out the damn mystery of Tony's disappearance.

However, the only thing he did manage to do was blow himself up. Okay, not literally and it was a tiny spark, but it hurt. Well, it hurt his finger, but it still hurt!

When the spark went off, Peter yelped as he immediately stuck his stinging finger into his mouth and glared at the offending object in front of him.

"Tony used to do that all the time," A voice behind him scared the shit out him.

"Jesus Christ!" Peter shouted in fright as spun around, making sure to hide the device from view.

Steve smiled sheepishly as he entered the lab, "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. JJ said I'd find you down here."

 _I guess I neglected to mention to JJ to only mention my whereabouts in the event of an emergency,_ Peter chided himself.

"What are you doing down here, anyway?" Steve wondered.

"School project," Peter lied easily.

"I guess I'm asking how you had access to it?"

Peter held up his internship card, "Mr. Stark gave me access to his labs. Said I was free to work on projects as I please as long as I didn't blow things up."

"Like you just did, you mean?" Steve chuckled.

"Oh, come on, it was one little spark," Peter defended himself.

Steve laughed, "I'm only messing with you, kid."

Peter felt himself smile genuinely for the first time in this whole damn mess. "Who knew Captain America makes jokes." When Peter realized what he just said, he blushed. "I mean... it's just 'cause your image is about honesty and liberty... I didn't mean to, uh..."

Steve laughed a little louder, in a more carefree kind of way. "I know what you meant, Peter. So, you worked on projects with Tony?"

"Yeah, we used to work together quite a bit before he was... taken," Peter struggled to say that last dreaded word. "He'd show me all kinds of cool tricks. He even let me work with the Iron Man suit for a bit."

Steve raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Did he now?"

"I mean, he'd never let me use it, I'm way too young to be handling that kind of stuff," Peter quickly reassured him. "It's funny, I've always dreamed of doing something like this. Growing up, I've always wanted to meet Mr. Stark, but having a chance to work with him has only made me realize that dream had really came true."

"I didn't even know Tony had internships, I thought he didn't believe in stuff like that," Steve wondered.

"I guess I'm a special case," Peter shrugged. "He saved my life more times than I can count, I'm honored to have been given this opportunity."

"Tony's saved your life?" Steve inquired curiously. "Pardon the shock, but you seem awful young to be getting into trouble."

"I was at his expo once years prior," Peter admitted. "I was there with my Uncle. I remember that day clearly. It was the day that Justin Hammer created those psycho drones and Tony had a battle for his life. I got separated from my Uncle when the crowd went haywire. A drone landed right in front of me and I would've been killed if Mr. Stark hadn't been there to save my life."

Steve looked awed. "I never knew... Did he know it was you?"

"Haven't had a chance to tell him," Peter shook his head. "It never seemed relevant."

"Wow," Steve whistled. "I got to say, you're a hell of a kid."

Peter smiled sadly, "Yeah, I guess so."

"Well, uh, I just came down to say that there was breakfast on the table if you wanted to come join us," Steve offered.

"Um... Thanks, but I already had a quick bite before I came down," Peter lied. "Thank you though."

"It's not a problem, Peter," Steve reassured him. "It was nice to chat for a bit."

When Steve turned around to leave, Peter stopped him. "Hey, Captain Rogers?"

Steve turned around and smiled, "Please, it's just Steve."

"Steve," Peter admonished. He hesitated for a moment before asking, "Do you think Tony will be alright?"

"Yes, I do," Steve nodded firmly. "If it's one thing that Tony has proven to me in the past, it's that it takes a lot more than a kidnapping to keep him down on the ground. We'll find him, Peter, I promise you that."

Peter just nodded and Steve left.

Turned around, Peter sighed before something caught his eye. It was the device. It had a white slip of paper sticking out of the printing slot.

Peter felt a spark of excitement course through his body as he reached over to grab the paper.

It had a message.

 _"If we can't protect the Earth, you better be damn well sure we'll avenge it."_

* * *

 **Yes, I know I disappeared for awhile and I apologize for the lack of updates. I've been kind of taking a little bit of a break from writing and it's because of that rookie mistake of over writing yourself to the point where you get kind of lazy at it for awhile, if that makes any sense. The updates will be infrequent and I apologize, but I'm gonna to my best to have at least two or three chapters per month and not leave you guys hanging for awhile like I did. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me through that break.**

 **Anyways, another chapter down and yes, I know, a filler chapter, but hey, the story is moving along perfectly well. Plus, I liked how Peter and Steve's relationship were beginning to develop. Steve is Peter's idol and you never know, Steve might be another father figure that Peter looks up to in the future. Okay, that's probably saying to much, my bad. Believe it or not, I have (right now at least) plan to have seven more chapters before the story comes to an end. We are getting really close to answers that Peter has sought throughout this whole story!**

 **A lot of people have asked me what's going on with Tony and I promise you that your wait to find out is going to be soon. I'm not giving you any spoilers, but stay tuned. Another Tony chapter is not far away in the future.**

 **I'll leave you guys there. See you next time!**

 **Was it good? Was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**


	18. Chapter 18

**For all of you who have been waiting for a Tony chapter, you don't have to wait anymore! It's been awhile since I did a Tony chapter, and I know a lot of you have been waiting for it, so I figured I'd go ahead and post the Tony chapter before I post another chapter from Peter's perspective. That chapter is already written too, but I won't be uploading it till sometime next week so I have time to review/revise some of it. Anyways, I won't keep you here too long so you can enjoy the chapter! I'll see you for more A/Ns at the end!**

* * *

Tony wasn't entirely sure of how long it had been since Hammer had first taken him. All he knew was that it's been days. Then again, he wasn't entirely sure of anything anymore. Everything felt... fuzzy, as if someone had replaced his brain with a bag of cotton.

Tony had enough sense in him to know that he was being drugged, he just didn't know what he was being drugged with. Every time he woke up, it seemed increasingly difficult to open his eyes. It almost seemed like at some point Tony may just not wake up at all. It scared him, but at the same time... he accepted it.

He also felt his body slowly losing its strength, as if his life was literally being sucked out of him, a little bit more of his soul gone each time the drug had ran its course. He was sure that he was losing a dangerous amount of fat and his starving stomach had resigned it's grumbling a while ago. His throat burned with the pain of having no water, it was just the fluids he was getting from the IV that was keeping him hydrated. Even then, it was just enough to make sure he got by. All in all, it sucked.

Out of all the times that Tony had been kidnapped, the whole situation was probably his second worse, the first being his torturous time in Afghanistan. At least this time, Tony was alone and no one could die for him. So that meant Hammer's only option would be to kill _him_ and no one would get caught in the crossfire. For once in his miserable life, Tony was happy that he was alone.

When Tony woke up this time, his head was aching and he felt absolutely sick to his stomach, which was ironic because it felt like he hadn't eaten anything in forever. His whole body was numb, and Tony really shouldn't be surprised. Most of the time that Tony stayed awake, he was always paralyzed by Hammer's tranquilizer and tied down into that same damn wooden chair, which was very uncomfortable if Tony may say so himself. Something was different this time, though. This time, he was strapped to an operating table with Hammer standing beside him, looking a tablet that he was holding in his hands.

"What the hell?" Tony croaked, ignoring his throat's painful protest as he weakly struggled against the straps that held him down.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Hammer commented, not bothering to look up from the tablet, and instead kept typing furiously on it. "I'd save your strength for something useful."

"Screw you," Tony gritted out.

"Now, that's not very nice, it?" Hammer clicked his tongue in disapproval.

"I heard it's impolite to have manners when talking to a psychopathic moron," Tony retorted. "I guess in their eyes its viewed as offensive."

"Who said anything about nicknames? Come on, Tony, even I know that you know better than that." Judging by his tone, Tony knew that Hammer was amused.

"What's going on, Hammer? Decided it was time to finally cut me to shreds?" Tony challenged.

"No, that would be too brutal, even for me," Hammer shook his head. "However, I did find something that's just breathtakingly amazing."

"What? You finally find out that you won the trophy for the worst villain in the entire universe?"

Hammer finally looked up form the tablet to glare at the billionaire. "Now, you see, that's really offensive. You wound me, I guess now you won't find out something about your little intern."

Tony tensed. "If you hurt him..."

Hammer cut off his threat, "Oh, quit you're whining, he's fine. I did send him quite an... exhilarating message not too long ago. Boy, was his reaction priceless."

"What did you do?" Tony demanded.

"Just something to remind him that sticking his nose into things that don't concern him can get him and his family hurt," Hammer shrugged. "I can see why you took him in. He's stubborn, smart, and young. Oh, the innocence of youth, I miss those days."

"You're sick," Tony growled.

"By the way, you sound absolutely pathetic, trying to be tough when you really are just hanging on by a thread," Hammer laughed. "It's so delightful!" He walked over to grab a syringe from the small table at Tony's bedside. This liquid was not the tranquilizer. It was the color of pure silver.

"What the hell is that?" Tony eyed the needle.

"My master plan to finally break you and then get rid of you once and for all, what else would it be?" Hammer raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think your body's getting weaker? I've been giving you doses of not only that tranquilizer but this beauty right here. Seriously, for the genius you claim to be, I could've sworn you would've figured that out by now. Think Tony, when was the last time you felt this weak?"

Tony frowned as he actually thought about it, which was a challenge in itself since there was the obstacle of the haziness in his brain. It was like Tony was trying to dig through a concrete wall with nothing by a chisel. Finally it dawned on him. He hadn't had this feeling of weakness in years. Sure, he's been in battle and he's been injured and tortured, but this was a different kind of weakness. It was a personal weakness.

"No..." Tony denied. "You wouldn't... you _couldn't_."

"Can I?" Hammer smirked.

"How the hell?" Tony's eyes were wide.

"How am I able to do something like that? Well, you see, it took a lot of trial and error, it took _years_ until I could perfect it. This serum right here, is something that I didn't even know was possible until I created my experiments. This right here, Tony, is your worst nightmare. Slowly, as this serum runs through your veins, it's thickening into a solid. Nothing too big, of course, since your body isn't being poisoned. It's just, when that solid finally becomes a tiny piece of metal... it'll be too late to save you," Hammer revealed.

"You're recreating the shrapnel," Tony concluded, fear coursing through his body.

"I couldn't have you die a painless death, could I?" Hammer asked in a mock innocent tone.

"You said you weren't trying to kill me, though," Tony frowned.

"I said I was going to _break_ you, I didn't say no to killing you, I just said it wasn't in my best interests," Hammer corrected.

"So what changed your mind?" Tony raised an eyebrow at his enemy.

"Well, I really do not have any use for you anymore. By bringing in your worst nightmare, I get to _break_ you and then after that _kill_ you in the process. It's a two for two deal!" Hammer exclaimed happily.

"So you're plan is that you're going to kill me. I do hope you know that your plan's a suicide plan. There are people out there who will not hesitate to avenge my death," Tony threatened.

"They will have nothing to trace your death back to me, I'll make sure of that. Plus, this isn't murder. When you die and I leave you somewhere that will cover my tracks, people will deem your death as accidental, not intentional," Hammer chuckled darkly. "This could've been avoided, Tony. You brought this on yourself."

"How on earth did I do that?" Tony snarled. "You're a sick man, Hammer."

"You brought this on yourself, if you had told me where the Avengers could've been found, I could've turned them into Ross and _I_ could finally have my charges erased! I could've had my life back!"

Tony froze, "Ross set you up to this, didn't he?"

"Funny how blind good people are, when the villain was in plain sight all along," Hammer laughed. "Who's the moron now, Stark?" Hammer stabbed the needle into Tony's leg, causing him to cry out in shock.

"The lovely benefit on that tranquilizer! The satisfying truth of how you can't move a muscle, but you can feel the pain of everything I inflict on you." Hammer took the needle out and went to inject something into his IV.

Tony's eyes began to droops. He could feel himself slipping away from the conscious world. "You won't get away with this," Tony's words came out slurred.

Before Tony was lost to darkness, he made out Hammer's faint words, "It seems like I already have."

* * *

 **Wow, I did not expect that chapter to take that twist, but it did and I'm kinda glad it did. I hope you guys feel the same way! Yes, I know, the whole "recreating the shrapnel" thing might've been a little too unrealistic and maybe a little too cheesy, but I did it for a reason (which you will see later on) and this seemed like the best way to put it into the story. Anyways, I have two quick things I want to say:**

 **1\. We have surpassed 300 Follows and I want to thank everyone so much for their support for this story, it means a lot to me that people are enjoying it. I love writing it!**

 **2\. We have also passed 100 Reviews (lol I know that's a little late but still) I love all the feedback you guys give me, it puts a smile on my face to know people are entertained and love the story as much as I do. I have also learned a lot from the constructive criticism (which is received wholeheartedly) I have received and it's helped me become a better writer along the way :-)**

 **Sorry for the inconsistent updates, its the week of my school finals and the school year itself has kept me on my toes and away from my laptop so I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and actually _write_. All that aside, though, I want to thank everyone for sticking with me even with the long wait for updates. I love you guys so much and you're awesome! See you next time!**

 **Was it Good? Was it Bad? Feel free to let me know!**


	19. Chapter 19

As soon as Peter saw that a third message had been printed, he didn't hesitate to grab the device and the small slip of paper before sprinting back up to his room, almost forgetting to turn off the lab lights in the process.

When he entered his room, he closed his door before grabbing his laptop and sitting on his bed, the device and slip of paper set in front of him.

 _"If we can't protect the Earth, you better be damn well sure we'll avenge it."_

Peter thought for a moment about what the message might have been referring to. It could be a number of things, that he was sure about. If Peter's hunch was correct, then the messages that have been printing out are based off of what Tony thought best represented them as a person. The only downside? Peter couldn't ask Steve where Tony might've said that message... but he knew someone who could.

* * *

When Peter quickly slipped on his uniform for the first time in a few days, he felt like he was home. Right when he put on the mask, a sense of protection and confidence coursed through his veins. He felt stronger in his suit, but he really couldn't explain _why_. Maybe it was due to the fact that when he was wearing the suit, people didn't automatically exclude him from things because he was a kid, or maybe it was because it gave him a chance to escape his personal issues for awhile. When he saved lives, he felt like he was given a sense of purpose, it gave him happiness to know that someone will return to their family alright.

Right now, though, this wasn't about watching the city. It was about confronting the Avengers and figuring out the next clue. He just hoped someone knew, because Peter would be screwed if they didn't.

Sneaking out of the compound was difficult, especially since Peter knew he couldn't just waltz out the front door without one of the Avengers practically stating that one of them would come with Peter to where he was going, and that just wouldn't work. He also had to be careful to not set off any alarms. How would Spider-Man explain why he was sneaking out of the compound without anyone's knowledge of him being there in the first place? So yeah, that was a bit of a tricky situation.

He didn't know how he did it, but he managed to make a clean getaway. He left the compound without anyone seeing him and he swung a good few miles away before settling in a nearby tree.

"KAREN, call Steve," Peter instructed his AI.

"Calling Captain Steven Rogers," KAREN replied. "It's good to see you again, Peter."

Peter felt a small smile creep onto his face, "It's good to be back, KAREN."

 _"Hello?" Steve answered._

"Captain Rogers, it's Spider-Man." Peter informed.

 _"Hey, kid. We were wondering what happened to you. You went silent for a few days," Steve said._

"Oh, yeah... uh, it's been busy few days," Peter lied. It's not like he could say it's because he was hiding his real identity from the very people he was talking to.

 _"I'm guessing you didn't call to catch up," Steve predicted._

"More or less," Peter shrugged. "Look, I'm a few miles out. Can you round up the team? I think I may have found something."

 _"Of course," Steve confirmed._

"Good. I'll be there in ten minutes." Peter hung up. He took a second to tighten the straps on his backpack before getting into a crouching position. "Let's do this," He sighed and then began his adventure back to the place he had just left.

Steve was waiting for him right outside of the compound as Peter swung up to it. As he came to a running halt, the soldier approached him.

"Where is everyone?" Spider-Man asked.

"They're inside at the conference room," Steve answered, pointing back to the building behind it.

"Good," He nodded. "Let's go."

Steve led the way to the conference room. As they entered the elevator, Steve turned to Spider-Man. "So, how've you been?"

"I don't know, fine, I guess?" Spider-Man shrugged.

"You sound tired," Steve observed.

 _Of course you would notice something like that,_ Peter thought to himself. "Yeah, well, I haven't been sleeping well lately. You know, with Mr. Stark still missing and no ransom calls being proposed. There's no sign he's still alive and I'm starting to get a little paranoid with it."

Steve sighed before running a hand through his hair, "Yeah. I feel you there."

"Somehow I feel like I should be surprised, but I'm not," Spider-Man stated.

Steve chuckled, "Surprisingly, you're not the first person to say that to me today."

"Black Widow?" Spider-Man guessed.

"Oddly no," Steve shook his head. "It was Sam this time."

"He doesn't exactly seem like the... I don't know, emotional type of guy," Peter was genuinely shocked at that.

"Yeah, well, you'd be surprised at what he has up his sleeves when you get to know him. Sam's a good friend and a loyal ally," Steve said.

"Sounds like one," Spidey replied.

The door to the elevator slid open and they proceeded towards the conference room. When Steve opened the door to the clear-glass room and Spider-Man entered. At the table sat Sam, Natasha, Rhodey, Vision, and Wanda. Surprisingly, Clint was missing.

"So, what was so important?" Sam raised an eyebrow at the masked hero as Peter came to stand at the head of the table.

"I found something," Peter announced. He opened his bag and took out the device along with the new message. "Message number three."

It was Natasha who reached over to snag the message and read it aloud, "' _If we can't protect the Earth, you better be damn well sure we'll avenge it.'"_ She frowned.

Peter noticed her expression and felt a small wave of dismay wash over him. "I was hoping you guys knew what it meant? Maybe the place where Mr. Stark might've said those words to someone?"

Steve shook his head, "Not that I can recall."

 _Then why did it print for you?_ Peter felt confused. He thought that the messages were related to what Tony thought best represented them, but he also thought that Tony had actually said those words to someone in the past. If Tony hadn't said those words to Steve... then why did the message print for him?

"Anyone else?" Peter asked, hoping for a positive answer.

When everyone shook their heads, Spider-Man just sighed and and turned around, placing his hands on the back of his head as he took a calming breath. He turned back around to face everyone, "Okay, um... let's think of something else. It sounds like he's talking to someone, right? Battle pep talk maybe? Response to a threat?"

"Kid, if we had a dollar for every time we got threatened," Natasha smirked. "We'd be as rich as Tony Stark himself."

"What about the Avenger's tower?" Spider-Man offered.

"I think it'd be a good place to start," Steve agreed.

"Why don't we head over now, then?" Spider-Man suggested.

"Steve," Clint's voice had everyone's attention in a minute. "We have a problem."

Steve frowned, "What's up, Clint?"

"Peter's gone," Clint informed.

"What?" Steve was on alert. "Do you have any idea of where he might've gone?"

Clint just shook his head.

 _Shit,_ Peter cursed.

"Maybe he went to school?" Spider-Man pretended to sound worried.

"You know him?" Steve looked at the masked hero.

"Of course. He was Mr. Stark's intern, right?" Peter was pleasantly surprised at how well his acting skills were.

Clint nodded.

"I met him a few times," Spider-Man nodded. "He helps Mr. Stark around his lab. I first met him when Mr. Stark called me in to look at my suit."

 _Wow, this is so weird. I'm talking about myself in third person,_ Peter mentally had to do a double check.

"Look," Natasha sighed. "Sam and I will head over to Peter's school to see if he's there. Wanda, Rhodey, I want you two to go check to see if he visited his aunt. Steve, Spider-Man, you two head over to Avenger's tower and check the place out for anything that might give us a clue as to what the hell that message is talking about. Clint, stay here with Vision in case Peter comes back."

Everyone nodded.

"Meet back here in two hours," Steve finished.

With that, they were dismissed.

 _Oh, I am so screwed,_ Peter cursed.

* * *

Peter wanted to change out of his uniform and return to the compound and just explain that he went for a walk, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Tony needed him and if he had to sacrifice a little of his freedom for it, then that's what it would take.

Steve and Spider-Man arrived at the Avengers tower within the next half an hour without any problem, which was nice for a change. Steve had decided it was a good idea to split up and cover more ground. Steve took the bottom two floors, including the lab, while Peter took the main floor along with the upstairs bedrooms.

Peter decided it was a good idea to start from the top level and work down to the main floor. The first hour was a bust, with Peter ransacking the rooms and finding nothing besides stray tool and armor parts, and some questionable things that Peter really didn't want to think about again. However when he got downstairs, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Instantly, he froze. It was the same feeling he had when he came to the Avengers tower, when he found the SOS button in Tony's lab.

"KAREN, scan the tower for any life signs besides Captain Rogers," Peter ordered.

"There is no one else besides the two of you, Peter. What's wrong? I sense your heart rate is increasing." The AI responded.

"Something's not right," Peter muttered, mostly to himself.

"Maybe Mr. Stark was trying to tell you something?" KAREN suggested.

"You know, that might not be a terrible idea," Peter realized. What happens if Tony had done something like that on purpose so that Peter could find it? Well... there was way to find out, and that was to follow his gut.

Peter followed the weird feeling to the bar in the corner of the room, near the launch bay on the balcony. Looking closer at the shelf of liquor, Peter saw something shimmer from the setting sun.

"Bingo," Peter smirked.

"Steve, I found something," Peter said through his comm set.

 _"Where are you?" Steve asked._

"Main floor."

 _"Be there in a minute."_

Not more than a minute later, Steve was approaching him. "What'd you find?"

"When I first came here, I found the tower trashed and the device. The second time I came here, it was to look for answers. However, that time it felt like something was watching me, but there was no one there but me. However, when I came back to this room just now, I got that same feeling that I had the second time I came here. All this time, I thought I was being watched, but maybe it was my spidey sense trying to tell me something that I couldn't necessarily see because it was hidden from view," Peter explained.

"Okay, I think I'm following," Steve nodded.

"Here, give me a hand with this shelf," Peter went to stand next to one side while Steve went to the other. Together, they managed to scoot the shelf away from the wall.

What they saw made Peter shout out in excitement.

"You sneaky son of a bitch," Steve laughed in amazement.

It was the letter M.

* * *

 **Another chapter has been delivered! I hope you guys enjoyed it! I also hope you guys had a wonderful holiday! I meant to post this on Dec. 25th, but seeing that I had family down, I never really got around to it, which is why this is a few days late. Anyways, I'll leave it there so I don't keep you guys too long?**

 **Anyways, I hope this story isn't progressing too slowly! If it is, I'll speed it up, but believe it or not, not too close to the end. I'll leave you guys with a few discussion questions this time:**

 **What do you think the device is and how it works?**

 **What do you think the strange letters are for?**

 **Do you think anymore charcters will make a surprise appearance?**

 **Is there more meaning behind the messages than what Peter thinks?**

 **When do you think the Avengers will find out that Peter is actually Spider-Man?**

 **Alright, I think that's enough for now.**

 **Was it good, was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**


	20. Chapter 20

**I sense that some of you are confused and trust me, that's exactly how you're supposed to be right now. Peter is just as confused as you are, so I hope that reassures you. Everything will be explained, I promise you that. Just know these three key points:**

 **1\. The device is a weird, mysterious gizmo that was left by Tony and it prints out strange messages.**

 **2\. The device needs a password, yet to be discovered by Peter.**

 **3\. Peter is afraid to tell the Avengers that he is Spider-Man because he's worried they will bench him for being a kid.**

 **Anyways, Enjoy!**

* * *

Not a moment after Peter and Steve had found the letter in the tower, Peter's display rang as an incoming phone call came through.

He looked at the caller ID, "Crap. I'm so dead."

Steve frowned, "What?"

Peter just held up a finger that said 'Wait a minute,' as he answered the phone call, "Hey, can I call you back in like two minutes?"

 _"No you most certainly can not! Do you know how worried I've been? You've been ignoring my calls for the past..." His Aunt's voice bled through the uniform._

"I know, I know, and I'm sorry, okay? Look, I'll be there in like ten minutes and I will explain everything, I promise," Peter told her, somewhat urgently.

 _"Don't you dare hang up on me..." May began._

"KAREN, end call," Peter hurriedly said before his aunt could call out his name to the superhero standing right in front of him.

"I'm guessing that's your cue?" Steve raised an eyebrow at him.

Spider-Man sighed, "Yeah. If I don't go now, she's gonna kill me."

"Girlfriend?"Steve asked.

"Worse," Peter sighed. "Guardian."

Steve nodded in understanding, "Go, I'll fill the others in. Plus, I've got a teenager to track down."

Peter nodded his thanks before running to the launch bah bay and jumping off of it, immediately shooting his web shooters onto another building, allowing him to swing through the streets. He wasn't going back to his apartment, even if he really wanted to check up on his aunt. No, right now, it was too dangerous. Whoever had sent him that message could be tracking his movements, and the last thing he wanted right now was for them to trace his aunt to him. Peter would never forgive himself if they used her to get to him.

So instead, he went into the forest about ten miles from the compound and perched in a tree, before telling KAREN to call May.

 _"You are a grounded and dead man the next time I see you," May answered._

"Please forgive me, the line wasn't secure. It wasn't safe," Peter lied, but apologized anyways.

 _"Oh, so now you have to make sure that lines are secure before you can just talk to me? What the hell is going on, Peter?" May's voice wasn't angry, it was confused if not a little worried._

"What did Happy tell you?" Peter asked.

 _"Not much, he was very vague. He just said that there was a shooting and that he took you someplace to be safe," May replied._

"Well, that's not far from the truth," Peter admitted. "Look, I'm gonna be frank with you, and you gotta hear me out before you say anything, alright?"

 _"I just want to know if you're okay, Peter," May sighed._

"Did Happy mention that there was a threat message given to me?" Peter asked hesitantly.

 _"What? No!" Aunt May shouted. "Why the hell would anyone be threatening you?"_

"You know of Mr. Stark being abducted right?"

 _"Yes, that I know of."_

"I've been looking into his disappearance," Peter confessed. "I'm guessing the people who have him are the people who sent me the message. I'm with the Avengers right now. They're keeping me safe until they can find these people, but for right now, you're safest away from me."

 _"Peter, let me come with you, please..." Aunt May began._

"I can't let you do that," Peter shook his head, even though his aunt couldn't see it. "Look, I'm fine, you have to trust me when I say that. You also have to trust me when I say that I'm handling this the best I can. For now, lay low and keep your head down. Pretend that nothing is out of the ordinary. I'll be home as soon as I can."

 _"Be safe, Peter," May pleaded._

"You know I always am," Peter promised. "I have to go now, I've already spent too long on this line. You be safe too, Aunt May."

 _"I love you, Peter, don't forget that," May told him softly._

"I know, I love you too, Aunt May," Peter smiled before telling KAREN to end the call.

Peter stayed there for a few moments before climbing to the ground. He took his backpack off of his back and pulled out his regular clothes before taking off the suit and becoming Peter Parker again.

 _Time for me to face my doom... again..._ Peter felt his shoulder slump in resignation as he began his way back towards the compound.

* * *

As soon as Peter walked in the compound doors, he was immediately bombarded by an angry, yet worried, Clint Barton.

"What the hell, man? Where were you? We thought that you got taken!" Clint exclaimed.

"A, I went to school, and B, I decided to go for a stroll," Peter shrugged.

"I know that's a complete lie considering that I just heard from Nat that you weren't at school at all," Clint crossed his arms. "So where the hell were you, and I want the truth this time."

"Fine, you caught me," Peter raised his hands in surrender. "I skipped, alright?" He began walking towards his room. "What more do you want me to say?"

Clint snagged the kid by the arm to stop him in his tracks, "Where do you think you're going?"

"I've got homework," Peter tried to shrug the archer's grip off of him, but it didn't work.

Clint tightened his grip, "What the hell crawled up your ass and died?"

"I just had a bad day," Peter lied. "I'm sorry I made you all worry, I honestly didn't mean to."

Clint's hand eased up on his arm, "Just don't do it again, alright?"

Peter just nodded.

"Good," Clint sighed before releasing Peter to run a hand down his face. "Go do your homework. The others will want to talk to you when they get back. I'd go take the quiet while you can."

Peter gave the archer a thankful smile before escaping to his room. He really just wanted to relax before he was bombarded by the other pissed off Avengers.

He spent the next fifteen minutes writing down his new findings in his investigation journal. Right now he had three messages that corresponded with three letters that currently spelled HAM which confused the heck out of him. Either Tony was really hungry when he made this thing or there was still more messages to be printed. The question was how were they being printed and what can be done to trigger those messages.

 _Alright, Pete, let's see what we've got so far,_ Peter thought to himself.

It all started when Peter found the device back at Stark Tower. He remembers his first words being "What the hell?" and suddenly a message popped out. Enter Nick Fury and the meeting with Fury, Coulson, and Rhodey. Fury speaks, another message pops out. Then comes the discovery of the letters when Peter goes back to the rooftop where Tony had said those words. Hence the start of the strange word that has yet to be figured out. Then Steve came along and when he spoke in front of the device, his message was printed.

 _Wait a minute..._ Peter thought. _What if the messages are triggered by voice recognition?_

That had to be it! When the messages were printed, they were triggered by the voice of the receiver.

 _If that's true then why hasn't the device worked for everyone? Why not Rhodey or Coulson?_ Peter wondered. Maybe it was because Tony had his reasons, maybe it was because of something that worked out better? One thing that he knew for sure, though, was that he had to get the rest of the messages. He had to get that strange word because if his hunch was right... that word might just be what moves this case forward in a positive direction. Time was running thin. Tony had been missing for almost a month now and it scared Peter senseless. What if Tony's time was running out? What if he was already dead?

 _Stop it, Peter,_ He chided himself. _You got to have faith. Steve has faith, and if he has faith then you should too._

His thoughts were interrupted when a knock sounded on his door. Peter jumped and immediately scrambled to put his notebook in the desk drawer before locking it with a key. Can't be too careful, he placed the key into his pocket and stood up as the door opened and Steve entered.

 _Of course it had to be him,_ Peter inwardly cringed. He hated lying to Steve... hell, he hated lying to all of them, but he's not giving up his secret yet. He's not being sidelined just because he was a fifteen year old kid.

"I uh..." Peter began before trailing off. There was an awkward moment of silence before Peter asked, "Did you talk to Clint?"

"More or less," Steve shrugged, coming over to sit on the foot of Peter's bed.

"You're pissed aren't you?" Peter asked, dreading the answer.

Steve barked a humorless laugh, "You can say that. What gave you the bright idea to make us lose our minds?"

"I wasn't really thinking at all," Peter admitted. "Didn't think anyone would miss me for a few hours."

"Few hours?" Steve frowned. "Peter, you were gone for six hours. We thought you got taken too."

 _If you only knew what I know..._ Peter mentally sighed. "I didn't think..."

"From what I gather, you don't do a lot of thinking," Steve wasn't amused. "Have you even considered that maybe by going out alone you put yourself in the direct line of danger? If the messenger is actually trying to get you, then you might've been swept off the streets, or even worse _killed_."

Peter was taken aback. He didn't know they cared so much... "I... I didn't really think any of you would've cared if I took a stroll."

Steve sighed, his shoulders slumping as he ran a hand down his face. "Peter, we care because right now, you're our responsibility. We help people, it's what we do."

"I'm sorry," Peter looked down at his feet.

"Just don't do it again. Next time, why don't you think before you do something reckless," Steve stood up. "Until further notice, you're being schooled here. No sneaking out and _no_ walking off of the compound's grounds."

"What, so I'm on house arrest?" Peter demanded. "Steve, that's not fair..."

"It's not _my_ decision, Peter," Steve looked pained. "It was a team vote. Majority won."

"You're the leader, though, aren't you? You have a say in all of this," Peter reasoned.

"I lost the title of leader awhile ago, Peter. Tony's the real leader and yet he's not here." Steve sighed.

"Then technically you should be the leader, right?" Peter objected.

Steve shook his head, "What's done is done, there's no coming back from it. I'm sorry, Peter."

With that said, Steve left him by his lonesome and Peter just stared at the door, even after it closed behind the soldier.

"Un-freaking-believable," Peter gaped at the empty doorway.

* * *

 **Sorry for the filler chapter, but I promise i have my reasons for putting it in! I have another chapter written that I just have to edit/revise and that should be up hopefully within the next couple of days!**

 **Believe it or not, we're not too close to the end of the story! As of right now, I'm predicting about 8, maybe 9, more chapters. Crazy, right? Thank you so much for everyone who's stuck with me for this story! I hope you're still enjoying it as much as I love writing it!**

 **See you guys soon!**

 **Was it Good? Was it Bad? Feel free to let me know!**

 **Questions to Ponder:**

 **1\. What's that strange message that Tony left behind? What do you think it's for?**

 **2\. Do you think the Avengers are catching on to Peter's identity?**

 **3\. How do you think Peter will deal with the fact of being under House Arrest?**


	21. Chapter 21

It's been three days since Peter had been on house arrest and he was climbing the walls in boredom. He's tried to keep himself distracted down in the lab, working on upgrading his web shooters and also just messing around with Tony's bots, Dum-E 2.0 and U 2.0. The two little AIs weren't the brightest tools in the shed, but being around them made Peter a little comforted, although he wasn't entirely sure why.

He's also kind of resorted to locking himself in his room when he wasn't in the lab, basically avoiding the Avengers whenever he could. Sure, call him childish if you want, but house arrest for "going for a stroll" was kind of absurd. Was going for a walk really a crime? Then again, if they found out that he was with Steve that whole time, but in his Spider-Man uniform, then he'd probably be under house arrest indefinitely, and also his investigation may be forced to come to a close as the Avengers take over. So, I guess Peter really shouldn't complain because things could be a lot worse than they were now.

At the present moment, Peter was in his room, writing away in his investigation journal about all the theories that were popping into his mind. He had so many, but there were only a few that make the most sense. He just wasn't sure which one was necessarily true, and even then he had no way of proving if they were true.

His first theory was that the device ran on voice recognition, printing the messages for the receiver. It made sense since the message Peter got had led to where Tony spoke those words to him. Same with Fury's message as well. What _didn't_ make sense was Steve's message. Why would the message print for the soldier if Tony hadn't even said the words directly to him? Was it merely a mistake or was something else going on here? Unless Peter got lucky and found a letter that had nothing to do with the message at all, and maybe it was for another person. Deep down, though, Peter knew that wasn't true. If it's one thing that he's learned about Tony throughout the time that he knew the billionaire, it was that Tony didn't _believe_ in coincidences. Whatever he did, he did for one reason alone. So no, it couldn't have been a coincidence.

His second theory was that the device just spit out messages for a random person, and the words have nothing to do with _that_ person, but rather the team as a whole. The only flaw with that, again, was the coincidence that Peter received a message that was no doubt directed for him and same with Fury's message. So why was Steve's message different?

He had many more theories, but thinking about all of them made his brain hurt. He missed confining in someone with this, someone who wouldn't judge Peter based on his age, but rather following his heart.

 _Ned..._ Peter mentally slapped himself. He hadn't spoken to his friend since he arrived at the Avenger's compound a few weeks ago. His friend must be worried sick about him!

Fishing out his phone, Peter said, "JJ, secure the line, I'm making a private phone call."

"As you wish, Mr. Parker," JJ replied.

Peter dialed Ned.

 _"Peter! You have no idea how good it is to hear from you, man," Ned blurted out as soon as he picked up the phone. "Are you okay? What happened? You kind of just disappeared!"_

"Ned, I'm fine," Peter reassured him. "I can't exactly say where I am right now because of security reasons, but I'll just say I'm somewhere safe."

 _"Whoa, dude, is this like a movie where the victim is being protected by the WPP?"_

"You know about the WPP?" Peter frowned before shaking his head. "Who am I kidding? I really can't be surprised. Look, Ned, how's May?"

 _"Besides being worried out of her mind? She's fine, I guess."_

"You guess or you know?"

 _"There's a difference?"_

"Ned!" Peter exclaimed, although there was humor in his voice.

 _"I'm kidding," Ned chuckled. "May's fine, at least she seems fine. She came over to have dinner with my mom last night."_

Peter sighed in relief, "Good. How are you doing?"

 _"I'm also fine, dude."_

"No one's tried to come after you?"

 _"No. Should I be worried that there might be people after me?"_

"Just be cautious out there, alright?" Peter requested. "Whoever left me that message might try to use to you or May to get to me."

 _"Fair enough. How's your case coming along?"_

"Too slow for my liking," Peter admitted. "I'm kind of on house arrest right now."

 _"House arrest? Why?"_

"Snuck out yesterday to check something out and I got caught. Apparently for my own safety, I'm grounded."

 _"Wow. Must be boring."_

"You kidding me? I'm dying of boredom! I've spent most of my time in Mr. Stark's lab working on a few projects, but I'm still losing my mind."

 _"Why did you sneak out? If you asked one of the others to have gone with you I'm sure they would've been fine accompanying you," Ned frowned._

"They don't know I'm investigating Mr. Stark's disappearance," Peter confessed. "They don't know anything. As far as I'm concerned, they think I'm here because I needed protection against the guy you gave me a death threat." Peter frowned. "Wait... how did you know I was with _them_."

 _"May told me. She said she's heard from you. Also, you seriously just said you were spending time in Mr. Stark's Lab. Besides, don't change the subject. They don't know? Dude, that's insane! Why don't you just tell them?"_

"Maybe because if they know I'm a kid they'll bench me from the investigation? I'm not letting that happen," Peter shook his head.

 _"Don't you think it'd be safer if you know... if they know you're identity? You never know, things might start picking up pace."_

"I plan on telling them when the time is right, and that time is not now," Peter explained. "Look, I called because I need some help."

 _"Sweet. Talk to me, man."_

Peter quickly caught his friend up on what's been happening.

 _"So you're wondering what you should do now?" Ned guessed._

"Kind of funny that it's always that question," Peter chuckled sheepishly.

 _"No worries, man. Two heads are better than one, or at least that's what I always say."_

"Thanks, dude. I really owe you."

 _"You owe me a hot dog and a new hat. I still haven't forgiven you for catching my hat on fire."_

"That was a complete accident!" Peter defended himself. "How was I supposed to know that dog breathed fire?"

 _"Relax, Pete, I'm just messing with you," Ned laughed. "Anyways, regarding what you should do next, why not just have Spider-Man drop of the device and leave it with the Avengers? If it really is triggered by voice recognition then it's bound to print other messages eventually, right?"_

"That's actually not a bad idea," Peter wondered.

 _"Like I've been telling you for the past three years, I'm a genius when I want to be," Ned sounded smug._

"Don't get to cocky," Peter laughed.

 _"I can be cocky when I want to be, thank you very much!" Ned objected. "Dude, I almost forgot to tell you, but when this whole thing is over, I've got a new star wars lego set I need help putting together."_

Peter perked up. Finally a sense of normalcy. "Really? No way! What did you get now?"

 _"I got the Super Star Destroyer! Mom said it was on sale and so she got it!"_

"Isn't that thing supposed to be huge?" Peter's eyes widened.

 _"You betcha!" Ned exclaimed happily._

"How are you not working on it already?" Peter wondered in amazement. His friend must be itching to get his hands on that thing.

 _"You kidding? I already started! If you don't get your ass over here soon I may just finish it without you."_

Peter smiled sadly, "I'll try my best. If we don't finish this soon I'm worried we'll lose any chance of getting Mr. Stark back here alive."

 _"Aw, Peter, that's not what I meant at all..." Ned sounded guilty._

"I'm not blaming you, Ned." Peter reassured him. A knock sounded on Peter's door, causing him to jump. "Ned, I got to go."

 _"Duty calls?"_

"Something like that," Peter replied.

 _"Be safe, dude."_

"You too. And don't finish that lego set without me!" Peter warned good-heartedly.

 _"Promise. Call soon?"_

"I'll try," Peter promised.

 _"See ya."_

"Bye," Peter hung up. "JJ?"

"It's Mrs. Potts at the door," The AI replied.

Peter felt himself relax before replying, "Let her in."

Pepper entered the door and Peter stood up, "What can I do for you, Mrs. Potts?"

Pepper smiled sadly, "As I've said many time before, Peter, you can call me Pepper."

Peter scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, force of habit."

"I know," Pepper chuckled. "It wouldn't be you if it wasn't."

"Did something happen?" Peter frowned, not entirely sure as to why Pepper was here.

"Just thought I'd check in," Pepper explained. "Especially since I hear you're on house arrest for 'going for a stroll?'"

"Oh, yeah, that," Peter looked at the floor.

"They don't know, do they?" Pepper asked.

"No, and I intend to keep it that way," Peter answered.

"Forgive my confusion, but why?" Pepper inquired curiously.

"Isn't it obvious?" Peter asked. "If they knew that it was me in a mask, a fifteen year old kid, do you think they would look at me the same way?"

"Peter, surely you don't think that," Pepper raised an eyebrow at him.

"How else am I supposed to think, Pepper? It's how it's always been. Remember Mr. Stark?"

"He doesn't look at you that way, Peter."

"Not anymore," Peter corrected. "Not since I stopped Vulture."

Pepper's face flickered with recognition and she smiled gently, "I see what's going on here."

"There's nothing to see," Peter denied.

"Yes there is, Peter, even if you don't want to admit it to yourself. You seek to prove that you're worthy in battle before you reveal yourself," Pepper crossed her arms.

"So what if I am? I'm sick of everyone treating me like a kid that needs to be watched all the time!" Peter exclaimed.

Pepper was surprised with Peter's outburst. "Peter..."

Peter's cheeks became flushed with shame, "I'm sorry, that was not fair."

Pepper reached over to gently take his hands. "Peter, listen to me. It's not the age that defines a person, no, what defines who they are is the person they choose to be. Yes, sometimes people may take awhile before they can look past that age window, but it's an old habit that dies hard."

"What happens if they don't see that, though?" Peter asked hesitantly.

"Then sometimes you have to show them what you're capable of before they open their eyes," Pepper told him kindly.

Peter sighed, "What are you really doing here, Pepper?"

"Let's just say a worried friend called," Pepper answered before looking at her watch. "Oh, dear, I'm late for a meeting. Will you be alright if I go?"

"It's work, Pepper, not like you have much of a choice," Peter smiled in understanding.

Pepper went to leave, but she turned back at the last minute. "Promise me something, Peter."

Peter frowned, "What?"

"Don't lock yourself away when things get sour. You'll find that it just makes matters worse for everyone. The key to conquering fear is facing it." Without another word, she walked out of the bedroom, the door closing behind her.

* * *

When night came around, Peter looked over at his clean room as he finished putting his notebook and the device in a backpack along with his uniform. He needed to do something, but he wasn't going to do it alone. He was going to change into his uniform, drop the device off with a note and slip away somewhere that he could continue his own investigation in peace. It was best for all of them. That way the Avengers wouldn't be burdened with the responsibility of looking after a kid and investigating Tony's disappearance on top of that. Also, that way Peter can stay as Spider-Man and help them form afar as he tried to figure out how can figure out where Tony was being held and get him back, preferably alive. It was late enough where running into anyone shouldn't be a problem, but when you're in a building with two agents, along with superheroes... well... you can't be too careful, and you just have to hope for the best. In this case, Peter just hoped he wasn't caught or else he would be totally screwed. More than he already was, that is.

He snuck down to the main floor of the compound, but as he walked towards the exit, a voice startled him.

"Where are you going at this hour, Mr. Parker?"

Fighting his instinct to jump somewhere he'd regret, Peter spun around to see Vision flying towards him. Peter placed a hand on his chest as he tried to calm his racing heart. "Vision? You scared me!"

"I do apologize, I did not mean to frighten you," Vision frowned.

"It's fine, I just..." Peter trailed off.

"You didn't expect to find anyone to be up this late?" Vision supplied.

"Yeah," Peter sighed.

Vision studied him, taking in his backpack that was slung over his shoulder, "You're going somewhere."

"What? No!" Peter tried to deny, even though it was rather obvious.

"Then why are you dressed and have a bag over your shoulder?" Vision inquired.

"Well... you see... I have to meet up with a friend," Peter tried.

"The same friend who's been visiting us?"

"Who? That Spider dude?" Peter laughed nervously. "No, a friend who's... in the hospital?"

"You sound quite unsure about that," Vision noted. "Humans never cease to amaze me."

"What do you mean by that," Peter frowned.

"Why do you insist on running when you always come back?" Vision asked curiously.

"I'm still confused."

"Wouldn't it be easier just to tell the others that you're Spider-Man?" Vision clarified.

Peter's eyes widened, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Really? I suggest otherwise."

Peter's shoulders slumped in defeat. "How'd you know?"

"I see everything, Peter. You seem to forget that quite easily," Vision said.

"Are you going to tell the others?" Peter looked up at the hero hesitantly.

"It's not my secret to tell, Peter. That's up to you. Although I do question why you insist on hiding."

"You wouldn't understand," Peter shook his head.

"I understand more than you know," Vision smiled kindly. "Although I cannot allow you to do what you're planning to do. Trust me when I say that the Avengers cannot finish this without you. If you leave now, there's no hope."

"Are you just saying that to keep me here?" Peter asked.

"Feel free to test your luck. For only you would know the true answer to that question," Vision stated. "Goodnight, Peter."

Vision left without another word, leaving Peter alone to his own thoughts, not aware of the faint whirring sound of the device in his backpack.

* * *

 **Did you expect that to happen? Or did it shock you? Well, it kinda shocked me, if I were to be honest. I didn't expect the chapter to evolve the way it did, but I kind of liked it. Anyways, I'm sorry this wasn't up sooner. It was written but when I read it I decided I didn't like it since it was all fluff and a little... stale, so I ended up rewriting it completely. Yes, it's another filler chapter, I'm sorry! But there's something to finally build some action off of. Interesting, right?**

 **Sorry if this chapter wasn't the best, I do admit that this one was tough to write, hence me feeling like I had to rewrite the entire thing before posting it. Everyone has a subpar chapter every now and then :-) it happens to the best of us.**

 **Anyways, was it good, was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**

 **P.S. Thank you all for the lovely reviews! I'm so happy to see that people are loving this story still!**

 **P.P.S. For everyone who are new Followers/Favs: Welcome to the Aftermath Family! I hope you enjoy the reminder of your stay!**

 **Questions to Ponder:**

 **1\. What do you think the message is? Why do you think it printed for Vision?**

 **2\. Who do you think the 'worried friend' was that sent Pepper?**

 **3\. Do you think that Peter is being a little paranoid about his secret? (I want your thoughts on this :P)**

 **4\. Do you think Tony will be saved before his time runs out? (I ask because I'm evil, lol just kidding :P)**

 **One more question that was inspired by a review I got.**

 **5\. Do you think FRIDAY'S mainframe being shut down was a coincidence? Or do you think there's something fishy going on there?**


	22. Chapter 22

Peter stared at the spot that Vision had stood not a moment before, lost in thought. He wasn't sure what emotion he was feeling at that moment. It was a mixture of fear, confusion, but most of all... uncertainty. Vision had basically came right up to him and said that he knew that Peter was Spider-Man. Then again, someone was bound to find out eventually. Even though Peter may not know Vision very well, something in his gut told him that his secret was in good hands and that Vision would honor the choice of Peter waiting to tell the others.

The one thing that he was really uncertain of at that moment, though was the decision to leave or to stay. However, if Peter had to confess it to himself, it was that there really was no question at all. Peter has had his doubts about his choice to run off ever since he came up with the idea in the first place. He wasn't ready to put everyone in a panic spree... he wasn't ready for people who he cares about get hurt because of a rash decision he had made. As he stood stock still in the same spot for at least five minutes, Peter felt absolutely like a coward. He was about to do the one thing that he had sworn himself he would never do again. He was so close to running away from his problems like his old self had done. Things like that had been the reason why everything went south in the first place. Why Uncle Ben had been out on the streets that night... It was why his uncle had been shot... If only he hadn't been a coward for that _one_ night and just had been man enough to face his aunt and uncle... But the past was in the past and Peter couldn't fix that. This, though, what he was about to do, well, he could still fix this.

Walking back up to his room that he was staying in, Peter threw his backpack onto his bed before reaching out to grab the device from the bag. When he grabbed the device and took it out, he saw something that was white, resting on top of his uniform, grabbing the strange object, Peter saw that it was a small slip of paper.

Feeling his heart skip a beat, Peter turned the paper over to see a message printed on it.

 _"Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk."_

That had to be another message from the device! The question though, was who did it print for?

Peter felt the obvious answer slap him in the face. The only person he had interacted with since putting the device in his bag was Vision, so the message had to be for him. Although, Peter couldn't exactly figure out why. Don't get him wrong, he had nothing against Vision, but he had barely seen the superhero since he began his stay at the Compound. Peter had always thought that maybe it was because Vision preferred to be alone or because of something else, but he was never entirely sure.

One thing he did know, however, was that he had to confront Vision about this. Sam had said that Vision's room was next to Peter's so surely it wouldn't be too much of a risk of bumping into anyone else, right?

Deciding to just take the message and lock the device back in his desk drawer, Peter snuck out of his room and knocked on the door next to his.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting to happen. Maybe Vision flying through the door, or maybe just not saying anything at all, but when the hero opened the door instead, Peter was pleasantly surprised.

"I see you've changed your mind?" Vision asked.

"Yeah, well, maybe you're right," Peter sighed. "Maybe leaving will leave all of us worse off than we already are."

Vision nodded thoughtfully. "I sense you're here for a different reason."

Peter held up the slip of paper between two hands, "Mind if I come in? We need to talk."

Vision stepped out of the doorway, "Be my guest."

Peter stepped into the room and heard the door close behind him as he went to sit in the desk chair. "I believe this is for you." He handed Vision the message.

Vision studied the piece of paper before taking it and reading it, his brows scrunching in confusion, "I don't quite understand what this means."

Peter felt his stomach sink. This would be the second time that this had happened. First Steve and now Vision? Tony really was trying to make Peter go on a wild goose chase. "Can you think of anyone who Mr. Stark might've said this to? I mean, you used to be his AI, right?"

"JARVIS? At a time, you could say that," Vision agreed. "Although him and I are not the same person, despite of what you might think. If Tony had indeed said these words to JARVIS, or had JARVIS known who Tony was speaking the words to, then wouldn't the information have been lost?"

Peter ran a hand through his hair. "I was afraid you were going to say that. Maybe he didn't say the words to JARVIS? Maybe he said them to you and you just don't remember?"

"That would be quite impossible since I practically see and remember things quite easily," Vision shook his head.

"Great," Peter muttered. "Just when I think I won't hit another dead end..."

"You could ask the Avengers?" Vision suggested.

"I could do that," Peter agreed. "I can just get my suit on..."

"Right, you're still on that path," Vision solemnly said.

"What path?" Peter frowned.

"Nothing," Vision smiled politely. "It'd be rude of me to comment on something that is none of my business. I'm sorry that I can't be much use to you, Peter. I hope you find the answers you're looking for."

Peter stood back up, feeling a little discouraged about the outcome of the conversation. "Thank you for at least hearing me out."

"That is no problem at all," Vision opened the door so Peter could exit. "Goodnight, Mr. Parker."

"You too," Peter replied before stepping back into his room.

* * *

The next few hours were a little touch and go. Peter had tried to get some shut-eye, but his mind wouldn't stop racing enough to let him catch some sleep. So, after three hours of staring at the ceiling and the feeling of sleep miles away, Peter just went over to sit at the desk, grabbing his investigation journal and recording the new message. There had to be a way to figure out who or maybe even _what_ Tony had left that message for.

It was times like this that Peter had really wished that FRIDAY was online. He knew that the AI would've been able to answer half of the questions that he had at the moment. KAREN was useful, but she was Peter's AI, not Tony'sm meaning that she wouldn't know too much about Tony's personal life. That's when a though occurred to Peter.

 _FRIDAY's not the only AI Mr. Stark has..._

"Hey, JJ?" Peter asked suddenly.

"What can I help you with, Mr. Parker?" The AI asked kindly.

"JJ, I've been through this with you before, please call me Peter," He shook his head in exasperation.

"My apologies, Peter," JJ replied.

"I have a question for you," Peter stated.

"I will answer to the best of my ability," The AI responded in what seemed to be an automatic reply.

"Tell me if you've ever heard these words," Peter began before reading. _"Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk."_

There was silence for a moment before JJ's voice seemed to change for a moment, to an older, more familiar voice.

"It's good to finally meet you, Peter."

It was the voice of Vision? No... Vision was Jarvis before he got the Mind Stone. So was this the original Jarvis? But that couldn't be possible, right? Tony had told Peter that the original Jarvis was destroyed by Ultron...

"JJ?" Peter asked hesitantly, not sure of how to respond.

"I'm afraid not at the moment, Peter. You have activated the JARVIS Protocol," Jarvis explained.

"JARVIS Protocol?" Peter was getting more confused.

"Sir... Or as you like to call him... Mr. Stark created the protocol in an event of an emergency. I can only be activated using certain words. Words which you have recalled to me perfectly," Jarvis said. "Although, I only can be here for a few minutes more before the Protocol is destroyed."

"What the hell is going on here?" Peter wondered. What the hell did Peter get himself into?

"Well, that is something I can't answer entirely. Although I will answer the question that you asked JJ. You wondered if I heard the words _'Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk,'_ and the answer to that is that I indeed have heard them."

"Then you know where Mr. Stark said those words, right?" Peter got excited. Finally he might get some answers!

"Why, of course. Mr. Stark had said them to me while he was getting in his second prototype of his Iron Man suit. That was in the garage of his Malibu mansion, which is unfortunately destroyed now."

Peter felt himself deflate, "If the place is destroyed then it's useless."

"No necessarily. Mr. Stark did leave me a message when he created the protocol. Sir told me that when the time is right, the receiver would be looking for M." Jarvis revealed.

"Looking for M? What is that? A name?" Peter was confused.

"Not a name, but more of a letter," Jarvis replied. "5 seconds till the end of JARVIS Protocol."

"Wait, no... I still have so much more questions!" Peter grew panicked.

"I'm sorry, Peter, were you talking to me?" JJ's voice returned to normal.

Peter sighed. "No, it's nothing. Thanks for trying, JJ."

"Of course, Mr. Parker," JJ replied before leaving him alone.

 _Not a name, but more of a letter,_ Peter recalled. _That must be the next letter I'm looking for!_

Peter quickly re-opened his journal before scribbling down his findings.

HAMM.

If Peter was correct, they only had two more messages to find. However, if the word is turning into what he feared, then Tony may just be in more trouble than he originally thought.

* * *

 **So... that was interesting. Um, well... yeah. This chapter strayed from my original idea of the chapter but I found that I actually liked this draft better. I won't keep you guys too much longer, I just got a few things to say, promise.**

 **We have hit 200 Favs and I wanted to thank everyone for the support!**

 **Also, we have seven chapters left (maybe eight if I decide I want to hit 30 chapters). But that means I'm gonna start brainstorming for new story ideas to write after I finish this fic and I want to hear your opinions on a few of them. I'll leave one or two each chapter and you can read them if you want, but don't feel obligated to comment on them, I just put them up in case someone wants to tell me their Opinions on them :-)**

* * *

 _ **Alright New Story Ideas:**_

 _ **1\. Kingdom Hearts Fanfic:**_

 _ **What happens if there was yet another side of the story that is known as Kingdom Hearts? What if Sora had a twin?**_

 _ **Kaito didn't expect his life to take the turn that it did. When Sora, Riku and Kairi had created the idea of building a raft to get off the island, Kaito joined in because he thought it wouldn't have actually worked.**_

 _ **However, when a certain storm brews and Kaito suddenly finds himself stranded in a world he has never known about and with nothing to protect himself but a silver sword he woke up with, Kaito feels like he's utterly alone. That is, until a yellow dog, a dog-shaped fellow named Max, and a small little duck with a blue shirt named Dewey joins him.**_

 _ **Now, Kaito sets off on a desperate adventure to find his brother and friends, unaware of the danger that follows.**_

* * *

 **Okay, with that aside: Questions to Ponder.**

 **1\. Do you think Vision is the only one who knows Peter's secret?**

 **2\. Who do you think the last two messages are for?**

 **3\. Does Tony know more about his kidnapping than he's leading on?**

 **4\. What's going on with all the AI's? JARVIS Protocol? FRIDAY offline? Why is JJ even in the compound?**

 **Figured I'd put those questions in each chapter since so many people seem to like them :-) Anyways, See you next time!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Before y'all read this I want to thank you guys so much for the incredible support you guys have given me. It's that support and the amazing reviews that you guys leave that inspire to push forward with this story because it's so much fun to write! Anyways, here's the next chapter!**

* * *

Peter spent the next twenty-four hours working away on homework that Happy had dropped off for him with a big post-it note that said 'You're Welcome.' It wasn't anything that Peter hadn't seen before, but his mind had been preoccupied on other matters than Algebra and it's a little distracting. Usually, Peter had no problem finishing his school work when it needed to be done, but right now, he had an excuse to be completely distracted. However, the homework did give him an excuse to not face any of the Avengers.

Yes, Peter was still pissed at them and he didn't want to face them, but at the same time Peter really had no one to blame but himself. After all, if he just had the guts to tell the team of his identity, then he wouldn't be on house arrest... wait scratch that, no. He would be on house arrest still because he's a 'kid'.

There was another part of Peter, however, that knew there was more than one reason that he was hiding from the others. No, Peter knew the real reason why he was hiding, he just didn't want to admit to himself. If he did... well... let's just say that he'd be no better than he was when he first started this gig.

That's why he was keeping himself busy, that was why he didn't allow himself to have any free time. Free time equals thinking and that is bad news for someone who's got an never ending thought-process that never seems to shut up. Well, that's Peter's life, for you.

He was in the middle of an intense math problem when there was a knock on his door.

"JJ?" Peter asked quietly. _Please don't be who I think it is..._

"Steve Rogers is currently outside your door," JJ informed the teen.

 _Shit_ , Peter cursed. Then he sighed, it was bound to happen eventually. "Let him in." No point in refusing when the solider just would've found a way to talk to him anyways.

Steve opened the door and hesitantly poked his head though, "You got a minute?"

"Sure, I guess," Peter shrugged, before going back to work on his homework.

"What are you working on?" Steve came into the room, closing the door behind him before walking over to sit on the edge of Peter's bed.

"Algebra," Peter answered, scribbling down some nonsense work.

"That sounds tough," Steve commented.

"It's okay," Peter shrugged again.

There was a moment of awkward silence between the two of them before Steve broke it, "Peter, talk to us, please."

Peter was caught by surprise by the amount of concern in Steve's voice. He felt his shoulders tense up before he replied, "What do you want me to say?"

"Anything," Steve admitted. "We're just worried about you, kid."

Peter snorted, "Well you got a funny way of showing it." Okay, that was a little harsh, but Peter blamed it on the stress of this whole damn situation.

Peter didn't have to look around to see Steve flinch at those words.

The teen sighed before apologizing, "I'm sorry, that wasn't fair."

"No, it's fine," Steve waved off his apology before clearing his throat. "The others and I have agreed to raise the house arrest if it means you won't lock yourself away."

That got Peter to turn around to stare, wide-eyed, at the soldier. "What?"

"We're un-grounding you, I guess," Steve smiled at the irony of it.

"Why?" Peter was confused. Where was this all coming from?

Peter saw something flash across Steve's face, as if the soldier didn't know what emotion he was trying to convey or hide. Finally, a mask came across the soldiers face and Steve spoke up, "Tony used to hide away in his lab when things went south. He'd be down there for days, sometimes weeks at a time without eating or even finding the time to drink anything but coffee... We worried about him, you know? There were times where Pepper had to drag him out to sleep or JARVIS had to call one of us to coax him to eat anything... we worried about his health and it pissed him off, but we still worried.

Steve looked conflicted, as if he wasn't sure if he wanted to say what he was about to say, but he did anyways. "Peter, when you began locking yourself away it was exactly how it was with Tony. We don't see you eating, we don't know what's going through your head... The past week you've been in here, we've lost our minds because a kid shouldn't have to face things like that. So if we raise this house arrest, please tell me you'll at least come out of here and have dinner with us?"

Peter felt extremely guilty in that moment. He hadn't taken a moment to consider what the others were thinking about him hiding from them. He hadn't even thought that they would be that _worried_ about him. In his defense, he didn't really think they cared that much about him. Like Steve said, he is their responsibility, but Peter had only thought that they didn't really think of him as anything more than that. So he looked at Steve's face and nodded. "Sure. Yeah, I'll, uh... I'll come to dinner."

The relief in Steve's eyes were almost blinding and Peter felt a little happy that he was at least _trying_ to make things right.

The super soldier cleared his throat, "Dinner will be in an hour. I hope you like chicken and fried rice."

Peter smiled genuinely, "That sounds delicious to me."

"Well, I'll leave you to your homework," Steve reached over to pat the teen on the shoulder before standing up.

As the blonde began to leave, Peter finally cracked. _Screw it_.

"Hey, Steve?" Peter called.

Steve turned around, confusion in his eyes. "Yeah?"

"I have something I need to tell you," Peter confessed. He needed to play his cards carefully now, but there was no other way Peter knew how to do this. He could sneak out again, sure, but maybe for once, he could take the easy route. If it's one thing that he knew in that moment, it was that Vision was right. Sometimes it does no good to complicate things to the point of it becoming plain ridiculous.

An unreadable emotion crossed Steve's face for a second before it was gone, replaced once again with confusion, "What's on your mind?"

"I've been talking to Spider-Man," Peter looked down at his desk, pretending to be a guilty child. "About Mr. Stark's disappearance, you know? I know about the messages. I've been helping him."

"What?" Steve was shocked.

"I, uh... He gave me this, told me to give it to you," Peter opened his desk drawer to take out the post-it note sized device. "Said that he wanted you guys to have it. Something about voice recognition and how it's got to work for one of you."

Steve's eyes flickered down to the device before walking over and accepting it from Peter. "I, uh... thank you?"

"You're welcome," Peter shrugged.

Steve looked down at the device in his hands, not really sure what to think or what to say even. So he looked up at Peter, told him dinner would be at 8:00 and then left Peter to his own devices.

Peter was surprised Steve didn't ask anymore questions, but Peter felt like he made the right call, although he was still hesitant about what he just did.

He's not stupid, you know? He's aware that the team have their suspicions, hell they may even know his true identity for all he knew, but if they did, Peter was thankful that they were respecting his wishes for keeping quiet. No, if it's one thing that Peter knew about the Avengers, it was that they weren't going to act on him being Spider-Man until Peter revealed himself. Then again, Peter could be wrong, but who knew anything anymore in this crazy world. Peter still wasn't going to tell them anything until after Tony was rescued. 'Cause, right now, he wasn't ready to face them. He needed to get Tony back first and then maybe he could explain his intentions.

Right now, it was a matter of just waiting things out. This was all going to end soon, that he could feel. To be honest, he was so looking forward to having this all behind him.

* * *

It was another two days before it happened. It was at least eleven at night and Peter found himself perched on the roof of a skyscraper, looking down at the streets below him. He was patrolling the city for the first time in weeks and it felt so good to be back where he belonged. It was a peaceful night too, the wind barely a scrape against the material of his suit and the streets were quiet. That was alright because it left Peter to think some things through.

Out of this whole ordeal Peter didn't understand a lot of things because there were so many aspects that didn't add up.

First off, why the hell did Tony leave messages behind just to send them on a wild goose chase? What were the letters even for? Were they some sort of code? Why leave messages behind in the first place?

All the questions seemed to be pointing in one direction, though. One thing that was the true origin of the abundance of questions yet to be unanswered. It was this: Did Tony know someone was after him?

It'd make sense if the billionaire did know something considering Tony was usually always one step ahead of his enemies, but then again that wasn't always the case. Peter knew of a few times where the situation was even beyond Tony's control. It still didn't stop him from wondering. 'Cause if Tony did know that someone was after him it explained two things. One, the real reason why FRIDAY is offline. And two, it also explained the device and the messages, to an extent at least.

However, that was a long stretch because there were others factors to consider. Why didn't Tony call someone in if he knew someone was after him? So that's one of things that didn't add up to the theory of Tony knowing more than he let on. Another thing was his lab seeming to have been broken into. Tony would've never let anyone into his lab, so that had to mean that he was caught off guard, right?

There were so many possibilities that it hurt Peter's brain to keep thinking about them. So many things didn't add up and it drove him crazy. Everything he tried to do to solve this mystery just seemed to raise more questions that no one seemed to have the answer to.

Peter was startled back to reality when KAREN announced, "Incoming call from Captain Steve Rogers."

Peter frowned, Steve never called him unless it was... _Shit._ "Answer," He told KAREN. "Captain Rogers?"

"We found the last two messages," Steve announced, but there was something in his tone that made Peter's insides churn.

"I sense there's bad news?" Peter was hesitant to ask that.

There was a long stretch of silence before the captain answered. "Just head over to the compound, kid. You're gonna wanna see this for yourself."

"I'm on my way," Peter reported before ending the call.

For some reason, he felt extremely nauseous after that phone call, but it wasn't because he felt unwell... it was the overwhelming sense of dread that came from what Steve had told him. It was vague, yes, but there was something unreadable in the soldier's voice that made him uneasy. He just hoped that what he finds at the compound isn't what he thinks it's gonna be... However, something tells him he already knew the answer.

* * *

 **I hope this wasn't too confusing? I'm considering maybe editing this chapter before I push forward but I wanted to get something out to you guys before my very busy two weeks coming up where I might not be able to update. Anyways, I know this was a filler chapter, but this chapter was really difficult to write. It's not writer's block, it's just one of those points in the story where you have to kind of push forward so the story goes where you need it to go? I still don't know if that made sense, but anyways, I promise you that I have a huge surprise for you guys next chapter and all I'll say is that there are so many things that will be answered.**

 **Alright, I'll leave it at that.**

 **P.S.: Am I the only one who's a little unhappy about the Steve-Peter interaction here? I was considering if I should fix it but I wanted your opinion on this. Anyways, it might just be me being too hard on myself lol :P**

 _ **Questions to Ponder:**_

 _ **1\. What did the Avengers find out? What do you think Peter will find when he gets to the compound?**_

 _ **2\. Do you think Tony knows more about his kidnapping then he's letting on?**_

 _ **3\. What do you think the messages were for?**_

 _ **4\. What's your thoughts on the story so far (lol i know i snuck that one in but seriously, don't be afraid to send long reviews, I don't mind :P)**_

See you next time!


	24. Chapter 24

When Peter saw the faint lights of the compound through the trees about a half a mile away, he wasn't sure if it was curiosity or dread that made him want to throw up. Maybe it was a little bit of both, but Peter knew he was about to find out whether he wanted to or not.

When the compound itself finally came into view, he saw Rhodey waiting outside, leaning against the wall. When Spider-Man approached him, Peter could see the worry in his eyes, even though the older man tried to hide it. For Peter's sake or his own, the teen wasn't sure.

"Colonel Rhodes?" Spider-Man asked as soon as he landed in front of the hero.

Rhodey's head snapped up, as if he only realized that the teen superhero had arrived.

Peter knew that was definitely not a good sign. Rhodey was always aware of his surroundings, no matter what the situation. Something must've really shaken him up. "What's wrong?" Peter's voice revealed a little bit of his distress. He had no clue what was going on and everyone seemed really off par. That fact right there scared the shut out of him. "Is it about Mr. Stark? Did you find him? Is he alright?"

"I, uh..." Rhodey pinched the bridge of his nose to control his emotions. "Man, I gotta be honest. I don't know. Let's just get inside, everyone is waiting for us in the conference room."

Peter just nodded and followed the hero into the compound, his thoughts racing a mile a minute and his heart hammering against his chest. What was all of this about? The walk to the conference room was eerily quiet and Peter was scared that if he shattered the silence then it might be like shattering glass.

When they walked into the conference room, everyone was either sitting down or standing up. Clint was leaning against the glass, his arms crossed, Natasha, Wanda and Sam were sitting down at the table looking deep in thought, and Steve was pacing the room, looking rather conflicted.

When the two heroes opened the door to walk into the conference room, all heads snapped in their direction.

Peter didn't care, he just looked at Steve, "What happened? You said you found the last two messages?"

"Not just that," Steve shook his head. "We know the password to the device."

That's stunned Peter. It took a minute for him to comprehend what the soldier just said to him. When he finally collected himself he didn't even know what to say.

"What... how?" Peter finally stumbled out.

"The last two messages were for Clint and I," Natasha spoke up. "Found the letters, and it was a lucky guess, but we did it."

Peter was confused. "But isn't that good news? That means we're heading in the right direction, right?"

Steve glanced at Sam and they exchanged a look that was like a silent conversation.

Peter looked between the two of them. "You're hiding something."

Steve sighed, "Kid... you're gonna wanna see this."

The soldier reached over to grab the post-it sized device and tapped the screen. Immediately, a holographic screen appeared above it, showing a video with a play button waiting.

Peter frowned, "What the hell?"

"Just... Just watch," Rhodey told him, taking a seat as Steve pressed play.

 _The camera began to record as Tony sat down in the chair, tapping on the lens of the camera. "Hello? FRIDAY, are we live?"_

 _"We are indeed recording, sir," FRIDAY replied._

 _"Good, uh..." Tony leaned forward to place his hands on his desk. Peter didn't like the look of Tony in video. The man almost looked... well, he looked resigned. "God, I don't even know where to start... Um, I bet you guys are wondering what this is about, right? Why I didn't just call you with the details... well... If you're seeing this, I've been kidnapped, if not killed already. I know, you're probably asking if I could be more blunt, but to be honest, in this kind of situation it's better this way._

 _"There's not a lot of time for me to go into depth of things, but if anyone deserves to know the truth, it's all of you. Even if we didn't end on the best of terms, I figured you'd at least like to know. Um... well, I guess I should start from the beginning right? I know all of this doesn't make sense right now, but it will._

 _"As of November 15th, it's been two months since I started being stalked. I should've noticed it before, but amazingly I didn't find out until a few days ago when I went to upgrade FRIDAY's mainframe, only to find out that there was a virus put in there. I know, you're probably wondering how on earth that's possible since I, Tony Stark, made the AI and it should've been impossible to break into. But I made a very stupid mistake. I left one stone unturned and that's what caused this whole mess to get started._

 _"As for who it is actually stalking me, his name is Justin Hammer. How do I know? Well, let's just say I dug a little deeper than I probably should've, not bothering to tell anyone what I was up to. It was stupid and I know that you're probably giving me a big ol' lecture in that head of ours about how I'm an idiot with the survival instincts of a fly. Trust me, I heard it all before. As for who Justin Hammer is? Well, he's psychotic genius who is no doubt after my head since I ruined his reputation. I stopped him once after he partnered with Ivan Vanko, a very dangerous man with a very dangerous reputation. Howard had screwed Vanko's father over when I was a kid and so as a result he turned to me. Once Vanko was stopped, Hammer was arrested and his reputation now gone. Apparently I wrecked his business and I took everything away from him, but that's not entirely true, is it? He did it to himself, but that's what a blind ego does to people._

 _"Yeah, yeah, I know what you're wondering. How can Tony Stark, of all people, talk about blind egos? Who's to say that he's any better? Well, my response would be that I'm a changed man nowadays. I've learned a lot over the course of the decade and I especially learned a lot after Siberia. Is that answer enough?_

 _Tony sighed as he rubbed a hand down his face, the exhaustion evident in his eyes. The billionaire paused for a minute before he continued. "You're probably wondering why I recorded this, why I made all of you go through the hellhole of a process to see this video. It's better to take precautions and you know me, I'm a password freak. The catch though? Well, I have something that Hammer doesn't know I have. I have his secret documents that I have uploaded to this tiny gizmo. I have his secret base location and let me tell you right now that his plans are something that needs to be stopped before something terrible happens. If that's not soon, then I honestly fear the worse._

 _"That's why I created this annoying scavenger hunt. I needed an excuse to get you all together again so you can stop something before a lot of people get hurt. I know it's a long stretch, but you're just gonna have to trust me on this. When people come for me, I'm turning FRIDAY's mainframe off for safety reasons. I don't need Hammer using my AI to get to you. That's not gonna happen. Not again. Everything on this device is the information you'll need, however, you're gonna have to switch FRIDAY back online, she'll give you the base location._

 _"I can picture you asking 'I thought you said FRIDAY had a virus?' Well, she did, but I wiped her hard drive clean and the virus is gone. I patched up the little bug and she's unhackable now. Is that even a word? Unhackable? I don't know, but anyways, the password to her mainframe is in the notes. I need you to turn her on, get to the base and stop Hammer's plans. I can't go into detail about them now, but again, all information on his research is on this device._

 _"As for me? Don't worry about me, I've been on death's doorstep a long time. I've accepted my fate as soon as I knew I was knocking on Heaven's door. I figured since I really can't repay my debts to all of you, then maybe this one little thing might shed some light on the humbug of a reputation I've made for myself. Thank you all so much for creating a family that I never knew someone could have. Thank you for staying by my side even after I've disappointed all of you more times then I can count. I've probably earned your forgiveness more times than I've ever deserved, but you can't dwell too much on the past, right?_

 _The joke fell short and Tony's expression grew sad. Peter was really surprised with how unguarded the billionaire's face was, because before all this happened, Tony wasn't the one to show his emotions. Let alone did he normally speak this much about his feelings. If it was one thing that Peter knew Tony despised, it was being vulnerable. To see his mentor fighting back emotions... It was rather unsettling._

 _"I never wanted to bring this burden on you, I really hope you can believe me when I say that much," Tony continued, his tone full of remorse. "I didn't trust anyone else to tell this to, so I figured I'd give this a shot to see if it worked. Another part of me really wants to just delete this message when I stop recording it, but my head's telling me that I won't bring myself to do it..._

 _"Please stay safe, especially you, kid. I know you won't sit this one out no matter how much I may try to convince the others to leave you out of this fight. You're stubborn, strong, but most of all loyal, and that's what I saw in you the first day I recruited you. And once this is all over? Go to school, get a job, have a family... live the life I was never able to live, kid. A safe and normal life._

 _"As for the rest of my team? Well... I really don't know what else to say but I'm sorry..."_

 _Tony cleared his throat one last time before he choked out, "FRIDAY, end video."_

The hologram disappeared and the device shut off.

* * *

 **I know it's been like three days, but I really couldn't help myself. I should be studying for a test I have at the end of this week, but you guys have no idea how long I've waited to write this. It came so easy that I literally wrote it during in one sitting. Anyways, I hope this wasn't too anticlimactic! That's all I'll say :P**

 **How'd you guys like the chapter? Was it good, was it bad? Feel Free to let me know!**

 _ **Questions to Ponder:**_

 _ **1\. What do you think Peter's Reaction to the video will be like?**_

 _ **2\. Will the Avengers make Peter sit out just like Tony said?**_

 _ **3\. What did you think of the video? Was it too cheesy? I kind of liked it :P**_

 **P.S. I apologize for any spelling errors. I am my own editor and I may miss a few on accident :P**


	25. Chapter 25

The silence that followed the video's end was something that Peter had only experienced once before, and he wished that he would've never had to experience again. It made him flashback to the day that his Uncle Ben had died right in front of him. The silence had been the same. It was the type of silence that was slowly tearing you apart, slowly making you lose your sanity... only this time it was different. This time, Peter knew what it was like. And he hated it.

He wasn't entirely sure what he felt in the aftermath of what he just saw. It was like his body was dealing with a whirlwind of emotions and Peter was no way prepared for the aftermath of it all. He felt angry... he felt heartbroken, but most of all, in that moment, he felt more determined than he's been in awhile.

Peter felt his fists clench together and he slowly had to force himself to relax his hands before his nails broke through the suit. Instead, he took the device from Steve and used two fingers in a zooming motion to make the holographic screen appear in the air, like he's seen Tony do many times before. He placed the device on the table and began swiping through files.

 _Come on, come on... where is it?_ Peter mentally wondered until he found what he was looking for. _Bingo!_

"We need to go back to the tower," Spider-Man announced, not really thinking about what the others would say.

"Kid..." Sam began.

"If we go now we can get FRIDAY back online and we can find out Hammer's location..." Peter continued rambling, not caring that his voice was hysterical.

"Spider-Man," Steve placed a hand on the hero's shoulder.

That stopped Peter in his tracks. He knew that tone. The one that lingered in Steve's voice, one that Peter knew all too well. Steve was _hesitant_.

"What?" Spider-Man asked, looking at the soldier.

"Why don't you let us take it from here?" Steve suggested. "I have a feeling you're not going to like what you're going to find."

Peter frowned, "Why? Because I'm a kid? I thought I established that a long time ago." For some reason he felt pissed off at the fact that the super soldier was bringing that up now.

"That's no what I mean..." Steve began, holding his hands up in a defensive manner.

"No, that's _exactly_ what you mean!" Peter argued, not really understanding where all the defiance was coming from. This was not him _at_ all. He never snapped on someone unless it was necessary. "I'm capable of more than any of you know!"

"We never said you weren't," Natasha calmly intervened. "Steve simply means that you might not find the answers you seek."

Those words dawned on Peter. No... They couldn't really think what he thinks they're thinking, right? "No..." He took a step back.

"Spider-Man," Clint began to approach the teenager.

"How could you?" Peter asked, hating how his voice cracked. "He believed in you. He _trusted_ you. Now you're giving up on him?"

"We never said that," Natasha shot him a warning glance. "We don't like this anymore than you do, but we have to be prepared for the worse..."

"Mr. Stark _is not_ dead!" Spider-Man burst out. "He can't be..."

"Kid, calm down," Steve placed a hand on the teen's shoulder.

Peter didn't realize he was hyperventilating until he felt his chest start to ache. He suddenly felt very claustrophobic.

 _I need to get out of here..._ Peter's head was pounding.

Peter ducked out of Steve's grasp and ran out the door, not bothering to snag the device on the way out. He needed to get out... he _needed_ to get some air... he _needed_ to find answers. He heard someone shout his name behind him, but Peter just burst through the compound's exit doors and was greeted with the chilly air of the night. He used his web-shooters to swing through the forests, going as far from the compound as he could until he hit a tree and tumbled to the ground.

Peter groaned in pain as he felt his shoulder burn with a dull ache. It was then that he realized he felt the mask sticking to his skin from the tears falling from his eyes.

The last thing he had expected when he arrived at the compound was to see a video that slapped him right in the face. Peter had thought that he was prepared for the worst... he really did, but when that video played... it hit him a lot harder than he thought was possible.

At first, he wasn't sure of Mr. Stark's intentions, but as the video continued and Tony actually seemed _eloquent_ and _genuine_ , Peter knew what it was. Tony was never an eloquent kind of person, he liked to keep sentences short and sweet and that was that. Also, Tony rarely gave straight answers to anyone. Ever. The only time Peter heard of Tony being honest was Pepper telling him the story of Tony's message after the Mandarin attack. This wasn't a coincidence. Peter had witnessed Tony's overall goodbye message. That alone was enough to make Peter heartbroken.

Part of him wanted to curl up in a ball and cry for his loss, but another part of him refused to believe that his mentor, his _friend_ was dead until he saw proof with his own eyes. The only way to do that is to go to the tower. Peter _had_ to find answers. If he didn't then he'd go insane.

"KAREN, please tell me you downloaded those files," Peter grunted with effort as he hoisted himself to his feet.

"Of course I did, Peter," KAREN replied. "I knew you'd want them on hand."

Peter sighed in relief. "You're the best."

"Why, thank you, Peter," KAREN said. "Are you feeling better? Your vitals are slowly returning to normal and you've stopped hyperventilating."

Peter winced. Was it really that bad? "Yeah, I feel better," Peter felt guilty for making his AI and even the others worry about him. He did kind of lose it bad there, didn't he? His attitude... his outburst... he felt totally embarrassed at the uncalled for reaction. Peter just hoped that the others could forgive him. Right now, though, he had work to do. He could afford to worry about apologizing later.

* * *

When Peter arrived at the tower's landing platform, he ran inside and made his way down to the lab. When he entered the lab, he didn't hesitate to go to the main holographic computer to pull up the login screen.

"KAREN, show me the instructions to turn FRIDAY's mainframe back online," Peter requested.

KAREN complied and within twenty minutes, a message came across the screen that said 'REBOOT SUCCESSFUL'

"Did it work?" Peter wondered aloud.

"Indeed it did, Mr. Parker," FRIDAY's voice startled the wits out him.

Peter jumped. "FRIDAY? Please tell me its really you."

"I can confirm that it is me," FRIDAY replied. "I see that you found the message without any trouble?"

 _You have no idea,_ Peter thought. "I found the message, alright. I can't say that I necessarily was excited with its contents."

"I'm guessing you're wanting to know what really happened that night?" FRIDAY guessed.

Peter frowned, "How did you know that?"

"Mr. Stark programmed me to read human emotions, Peter. Plus, I have access to KAREN's conversations," FRIDAY said.

"Somehow I'm not completely surprised by that," Peter sighed. "What happened, FRIDAY?"

"I'll pull up the cameras," FRIDAY informed him.

A video feed appeared on the screen:

 _The feed began with Tony working away in his lab. From the messy hair, tired posture and the bags under his eyes, Peter guessed that the billionaire hadn't slept in awhile. What caught Peter's attention, however, was when Tony grabbed Captain America's shield and began tinkering with it._

 _The billionaire must've dozed off while working on it because he was suddenly startled awake by a loud smashing sound upstairs._

 _He was instantly on alert. "FRIDAY?" He glanced at his watch._

 _"There's five intruders upstairs, sir, shall I sound the alarms?" The AI's voice replied quickly._

 _"No" Tony sighed. "If it's five goons I can take care of it." Tony summoned his armor and he flew through the ceiling._

 _The billionaire landed in a kneeling position with his fist on the ground and as he stood up, he slowly looked around the darkened exterior of the Tower, the only glow coming from his suit._

 _He stood up straighter, holding one of his repulsors out, ready to shoot first and ask questions later. "Show yourself."_

 _There wasn't a response. It was too quiet. Walking further into the room, he stopped dead in the center of the entrance hall. There was a split second of utter silence before Tony spun around, shooting up at the second floor railings. A body fell to the ground and weapon fire broke out. The only thing that was weird was the fact that the guns seemed to shoot electrical pulses at the billionaire's armor instead of shooting just plain ammo. Tony shot down three of them before he fell to the ground; his armor deactivated from the pulses shot at him._

 _"FRIDAY!" Tony barked._

 _"System Reboot failed, sir. I'm afraid whatever was in those guns has disabled all the suit's functions," FRIDAY's voice replied in a static tone._

 _Peter witnessed Tony's attackers insert something into the suit as the Iron Man suit's light fizzled out._

 _"Search the lab," One of the goons ordered. "You know what the boss wants."_

 _Another goon ran off as the other mumbled something into what seemed to be thin air before picking up the Iron-Man suit like it weight nothing._

 _That's when something bright flashed from the goon's face._

"FRIDAY, pause the video," Peter blurted out as FRIDAY complied and the feed paused. Peter zoomed in only to see that the object that was the source of the flash came from underneath the torn skin of the goon's face.

 _Shit,_ Peter's eyes widened. "FRIDAY, is that what I think it is?"

"Indeed, Mr. Parker. They weren't human," FRIDAY confirmed.

"EXTREMIS?" Peter asked.

"No, before my mainframe was shut off, I managed to get a scan of their vitals," FRIDAY informed.

"Were they normal?" Peter asked.

"That's the thing, Peter. They didn't have any vital signs," FRIDAY revealed.

"So they're what, robots?" Peter rhetorically asked.

"Close," FRIDAY replied. "They're indeed some kind of android."

Peter blinked. "I was kidding."

"And I am not," FRIDAY said.

"So what, Hammer's experimenting with androids?" Peter frowned, confused.

"It wouldn't be the first time that Justin Hammer had done so," FRIDAY pointed out.

Tony's words flashed in his mind:

 _"His plans are something that needs to be stopped before something terrible happens."_

For some reason, those words sparked a memory that Peter had buried a long time ago.

But this situation seemed oddly familiar and Peter didn't exactly know why. After all this can't have anything to do with something 8 years ago, right?

"FRIDAY, are they androids or are they drones?" Peter asked hesitantly.

"I think you already know the answer to that one, Peter," FRIDAY answered.

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that," Peter sighed. "Things just got a whole lot more complicated. FRIDAY, Mr. Stark said that you know Hammer's base location?"

"Indeed," FRIDAY confirmed.

"I need to know where Hammer is, what is he up to?" Peter asked, cursing himself for not taking the time to read the documents that KAREN had downloaded.

"Justin Hammer is currently in an abandoned building that's a few blocks away from Flushing Meadows Public Park," FRIDAY replied.

 _Flushing Meadows... Why do I know that name?_ Peter frowned. Then his eyes widened. "FRIDAY, where was the 2010 Stark Expo held?"

"Flushing Meadows," FRIDAY answered.

 _Why are villains always so predictable?_ Peter shook his head. "Send KAREN the coordinates, FRIDAY," Peter requested.

"You're going alone?" FRIDAY asked.

"Seems so," Peter replied, not missing a beat.

"Don't you think that's a little reckless?" FRIDAY reprimanded.

"The others don't understand," Peter shook his head.

"I think they understand more than you know," FRIDAY told him. "Why do you doubt them?"

Peter hesitated. Why did he doubt them?

"I think you and I know what's really going on here, Peter," FRIDAY gently stated. "After all that you've done, you still feel the need to prove that you're worthy. You seek to show people that you're not a kid."

Peter shook his head, "They were going to make me sit out. I _can't_ sit out of this, FRIDAY. Especially not now. If this is going where I think it's going, I know more about this situation than anyone else."

"No one can force you to do anything," FRIDAY reassured him. "Yet, wouldn't it be a lot safer to have a team rather than going into a situation like this solo?"

"Why do you sound so much like him?" Peter sighed.

"Mr. Stark designed me himself," FRIDAY simply stated. "I can't make you seek out help from the others, Peter, but at least take some things that Mr. Stark left for you."

Peter frowned, "I'm sorry?" He didn't quite understand what the AI was talking about.

There was a hissing sound and Peter turned around to see the wall at the other side of the lab open and a platform was pushed out. Peter's eyes widened.

There were things for everyone in there.

Peter was only focused on the suit. It was the suit that Tony had left for him when he first got to the compound after his fight with Vulture. It was the suit that he turned down. Why did Tony leave it for him now? Unless the billionaire knew the fight that they were about to get themselves into?

Unlike before, though, Peter took the suit off its rack without hesitation. It took Peter a minute to switch suits, but when he finally pulled on the mask, he felt like brand new. The suit was pure armor, but it was thin enough that it was flexible. The colors were the same, too, but the red and blue were a little darker and there was a gold outline that traced the spider on Peter's chest. He felt more powerful, but he also felt more protected. Man, he wished he accepted this suit beforehand.

"KAREN?" Peter asked.

"Right here, Peter," KAREN reassured him.

"Man this feels awesome," Peter chuckled as he looked at his hands, seeing how his monitor scanned over to hidden web-shooters.

"Are you ready, Peter?" KAREN asked.

Peter paused as he thought about that for a moment. _Was_ he ready? It only took him a moment before he began to walk back up to the main room where the launch bay was.

"Let's do this," Peter stated.

* * *

 **Things are starting to get more interesting, huh? I hope you enjoyed the chapter, this one was definitely an... interesting chapter to write. Although, the frequent updates are because I'm so excited that I've finally got to this part of the story. I could not wait to get to this part and now that I have I can't stop writing!**

 **Anyways, was it good? Was it bad? Feel free to let me know?**

 _ **Questions To Ponder:**_

 _ **1\. Do you think Peter's really going in solo? Or do you think he's got something else up his sleeve?**_

 _ **2\. Do you think Hammer's expecting Peter?**_

 ** _3\. Is anyone confused (If so I'll make sure to explain a few things. It's my first story so I'm still learning as I go along :P)_**

 **See you guys next time!**


	26. Chapter 26

Peter was relatively surprised at how easy it was to find Hammer's location, given that he only had a mile radius of where it might've been. When he stumbled across the abandoned factory in the middle of a dock yard, Peter was disappointed. Couldn't villains be more interesting for once?

The outside of the factory was oddly quiet and there were no guards in sight. Looking back, that; should've been the first red flag that was thrown at Peter, but the kid had been so desperate that he took the bait. He crawled through one of the second story windows with ease and he suddenly found himself inside.

The factory itself was old and creaky with little light and a hell of a lot of dust. Peter was thankful for the mask he wore or else he'd probably succumb to a coughing fit. As Peter made his way to the railing of the second story catwalk, he took in his surroundings. A lot of the windows upstairs were boarded off and the decor indicated that whatever caused this building to be abandoned, it was done in a hurry.

When Peter found himself looking down at the light-filled first story, he made sure to hide himself in the shadows as he saw Hammer walk up to one of the androids.

"Any word from Ross?" Hammer asked.

"He sends a message," The android replied in a robotic monotone. "He's done. There's been a breach in his security."

"I was afraid that rat would drop our deal," Hammer mused as he put a hand on his chin. "You know what to do."

"What about the other asset?" The android wondered.

"Oh, I got him, trust me he won't last the night," Hammer laughed.

"Do you have any other orders besides the Compromised Protocol?" The android asked.

"Nope, you know what you have to do," Hammer shook his head. "Get in, do it quick and then get out. I've came too far already to get exposed."

"Yes sir," The android nodded before walking away.

There was a few minutes of silence after the android had left. Hammer had his back to the teen, but the villain chuckled darkly.

"Revenge is a sweet thing, isn't it, Peter?" Hammer inquired.

Peter froze, his heart racing.

"Oh, don't bother hiding boy," Hammer clicked his tongue. "Don't you know it's rude to be antisocial?"

Peter remained silent for a moment, slowly backing away from the railing and towards the window. However, before he could go anywhere, he backed straight into a person's chest and before he could jump to safety, arms trapped him with inhumane strength.

Peter struggled in fear, as he desperately tried to break free.

 _This was a bad idea..._ Peter berated himself.

The android all but dragged the teen down to the first floor of the room, but Peter continued to struggle, trying his best to get the advantage.

However, the person who captured him must've gotten impatient because Peter suddenly found himself punched in the face.

"Easy, Eleven," Hammer ordered. "We need him alive."

Peter was forced to his knees on the ground as Hammer approached him. The villain knelt in front of him.

"I was wondering how long it'd take you to get here," Hammer smirked.

Peter just remained silent, but he made sure that even under his mask, Hammer could feel the glare he had on his face.

"I didn't think you'd be the silent one," Hammer noted as he stood back up. "Tell me, Peter, what was it like when I sent the drones to the school? It was a pretty genius plan, wasn't it?"

"Genius?" Peter scoffed. "More like idiotic."

"Okay, that hurt," Hammer rolled his eyes. "I guess in your defense it didn't teach you to leave well enough alone, but that might be because you have a stubborn and narcissistic mentor."

"Mr. Stark," Peter's eyes widened. "Where is he? What have you done to him?"

"Oh, calm your trousers, kid," Hammer pinched the bridge of his nose. "He's dead."

Peter felt something inside him break, "No. That can't be... you're lying!"

"Am I?" Hammer raised an eyebrow at him.

Peter felt his body began to shake in rage and in a fit of adrenaline, he broke free of the person restraining him and he jumped at Hammer, slamming a fist into his face before three people suddenly yanked him backwards. He felt two fists collide with his face and a person sweet his legs out from under him.

Hammer, now holding his bloody nose, sneered at the teen, "You're more annoying than I thought you were going to be."

"You're a monster!" Peter yelled. "What the hell did he ever do to you?"

Hammer's eyes sparked with fury, "He ruined my damn life, that's what he did! I lost everything because of him! I lost my business, my fortune, and my reputation because that damn billionaire couldn't keep his damn nose out from where it didn't belong!"

"So you killed him just because you lost your money?" Peter didn't care if his voice sounded hysterical. He was having trouble holding in the tears.

"He had what was coming for him!" Hammer growled. "And now you're going to join him."

Peter's eyes widened, "What? Why?"

"Because you know too much, isn't it obvious?" Hammer rolled his eyes once more. "Besides, you're a rookie, I can tell. I mean, you made to stupid mistake of coming alone."

Peter felt himself smirk. "Oh, well, you see, I didn't."

Hammer frowned. "Excuse me?"

Before Peter could respond, an arrow suddenly was lodged in one of the androids that were restraining Peter and the robot spazzed as if it was being fried inside.

Peter took that to his advantage and kicked the other androids with all his strength and he managed to get one of his hands free long enough to shoot the other two with electro-webs, successfully short circuiting them.

"There's one thing that you were wrong about, Hammer," Peter walked up to him slowly. "I'm _never_ alone."

The scientist growled before shouting, "Androids, Search and Destroy! I want them all dead!"

Peter struck out and punched Hammer in the face. However, something revealed itself then. There were sparks coming from a cut that appeared on its cheek.

Peter's eyes widened and he found himself suddenly struck backwards with enough force to send him flying into the wall on the other side of the room.

"Spider-Man!" Someone shouted and he found himself face-to-face with a worried Hawkeye.

"I'm fine," Peter got to his feet shakily.

"What the hell happened?" Clint asked.

"I'm not sure, but I have a damn good feeling that whatever that thing is, it's not Hammer," Peter guessed. "He's got an android that looks like him."

Hawkeye pressed his ear piece, "Did you get that, Steve?"

"Karen, connect the comms!" Peter ordered.

"Connection successful," Karen reported.

"Captain America?" Peter voiced.

 _"Welcome back, kid," Steve said. "You okay?"_

"We're fine, Cap, but what should we do?" Hawkeye was the one who answered.

 _"There's a bunch of androids out here, but Nat, Sam, Wanda, Vision and I should be able to hold them off. Clint, you and the kid search the lower levels of this facility to see if you can get anything on where Hammer might be!" Steve ordered._

Peter nodded, "You got it."

 _"Keep us posted," Natasha requested._

Clint looked at Peter, "Let's go."

"Karen, scan the area for any entrances to the lower levels," Peter said.

"There's a staircase hidden behind the center of the east wall. It leads to the basement," Karen reported.

"Search for any life signs."

"There are two heat signatures," Karen replied.

Peter looked at Clint, "I think we got them."

The two heroes dashed to the east wall and Spider-Man saw the keypad. He hacked it with Karen's help and the two heroes raced down the staircase. When they got to the bottom of the barely lit room, Peter froze.

Clint already had an arrow drawn, "Drop the syringe, Hammer!"

Hammer spun around and smirked, "I'm afraid it's too late."

As the Clint held the bow at Hammer, Peter couldn't take his eyes off the ill-looking Tony Stark that was sitting in chair, his clothes bloody and his skin too pale to be alive.

"What did you do to him?" Peter felt the words leave his mouth before he could stop himself.

"I recreated his worst nightmare," Hammer smirked.

"And what's that?" Peter's eyes flickered to the psychopath.

"I'm afraid you'll never find that out," Hammer smirked before stabbing himself with the syringe and immediately collapsing.

"No!" Clint growled and ran to the immobile scientist. He felt for a pulse and shook his head. "Damn it!"

 _"Clint, what's happened?" Steve asked._

Peter didn't even pay attention to the conversation between Clint and Steve, but instead ran over to his mentor and crouched beside him.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter shook the billionaire's shoulders. "Mr. Stark!"

The man's eyes fluttered open, but he looked out of it. "...P'r?"

Peter took off his mask, not really thinking about the other person in the room. "Yeah, Mr. Stark, it's me."

A ghost of a smile appeared on the man's face before his eyes fell closed and he stopped breathing.

"No, no, no, no," Peter voice grew hysterical. "Steve, we need a medic down here now!"

 _"What? Why?" Steve sounded frantic._

"It's Tony," Clint was behind the chair in an instant, cutting the restraints free with his arrow. "Cap, he's stopped breathing. Call a Med Evac now!"

Peter was frozen in terror, not really sure of what was happening around him. He felt his breathing become labored and his head began to feel fuzzy.

"Peter!" Clint's voice brought him back to reality and Peter realized that the archer was in front of him, gripping his shouldering in a tough, but comforting gesture. "You need to calm down! You're not gonna be of any use if you pass out on me too!"

It took a second for Peter to calm him breathing but he nodded.

"Good," Clint nodded. "I need you to search the room for any clues of what Hammer's been injecting Tony with. There's puncture wounds all along his arms. Can you do that for me?"

Peter nodded and got to his feet as Clint started CPR on his friend. Running over to the medical trays on the other side of the room. As Peter searched the trays, his eyes stopped on a silver-vial that was clearly labeled.

It read: _Shrapnel Serum._

Peter's eyes widened, "Hawkeye stop!"

"Are you crazy, he's gonna die!" Clint stared at the teenager.

"Hammer's been injecting him with liquid metal," Peter brought the vial to the archer. "It could be solidifying in his bloodstream as we speak. If you keep pumping his heart, it will get shredded."

Clint read the vial, "Shit!" He pressed his ear piece. "Steve, please tell me the Med Evac is almost here!"

 _"They're ten minutes out," Steve replied._

"That's not good enough," Clint paced. "Tell them to get here faster or else Tony will be dead by the time they get here."

 _"Is CPR not working?" Steve sounded frantic._

"CPR is not going to work, it'll just kill him faster," Clint shook his head.

 _"..." There was silence for a moment before Natasha answered, "Please tell me you're not implying what I think you're implying."_

"I think you know exactly what I'm saying, Nat," Clint sighed.

 _"Things just got a hell of a lot more complicated." Natasha grumbled._

* * *

 **I do want to warn you that I'm trying to get better at writing action scenes, but I did my best :-)**

 **Anyways, short A/N this time. Thank you to everyone who faved/followed/reviewed last chapter! The support means so much to me!**

 **Was it good, was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**

 _ **Questions to Ponder:**_

 _ **1\. Will Tony** **receive** **medical attention before it's too late?**_

 _ **2\. Peter's finally revealed himself! The mask is off! Clint didn't seem too surprised... do you think that implies that the Avengers already knew his identity?**_

 _ **3\. Was this chapter a little too extreme?**_

 **Two more chapters! I can't believe it! See you next time!**


	27. Chapter 27

The events that happened over the course of the next five minutes had been a big blur to Peter. He didn't really understand anything that was going on due to the fact that it had all been happening so fast. It had felt like his life was switched to fast-forward and now he struggled to catch up with reality.

Part of it might've been the shock. Another part of it could've been the denial. He wasn't entirely sure.

Basically the next five minutes had consisted of Clint talking speedily to Steve while Peter just knelt beside his motionless mentor, not entirely sure if what was happening was a dream or not. The next thing that Peter had known, the medics had arrived and hauled Tony out of the basement on a gurney and Peter had raced after the EMTs as they quickly got Tony to the helicopter that would transport him to a medical facility.

There wasn't any room for Peter to tag along with the EVAC team so he instead had walked onto the Avenger's Quinjet in silence.

If someone had asked Peter in that moment what he was feeling, there was a good chance that he wouldn't have been able to give that person an answer. He felt cloudy inside and it was a feeling that he had never had before. Sure, with Uncle Ben, it was a different matter altogether because it was something that had happened so suddenly. But with Tony? Tony had been kidnapped and Peter had tried to uncover the secrets that Tony had left behind, but he wasn't _fast enough_. What happened if Peter had been a few days faster? A week faster? This was on him. He failed Tony.

The Avengers hadn't tried to approach him yet and for that, Peter was grateful. He had no doubt that the team probably really wanted to talk to him, but they had accepted Peter's silence. This situation was a lot to handle for all of them. It wasn't easy to see someone close to you slowly dying like that.

However, the quietness came to an end as he heard someone sit down next to him. Peter didn't need to look over to see who it was. He already knew.

"How are you doing?" Steve asked kindly, concern in his voice.

Peter just shrugged, not making eye contact.

The soldier sighed, "Yeah, me too."

They sat in silence for the rest of the ride and Peter was grateful for the lack of questions. He really didn't feel in the mood to answer them at that moment.

When Clint had finally steered the Quinjet onto the Helicarrier's runway, it made Peter realize just how dire Tony's situation must've been for him to be brought here instead of a normal hospital. What made it worse was that Peter had the faintest idea of what was going to happen to the billionaire. What happened if he was already dead? What happened if he walked inside and there was a doctor waiting to say that it was too late?

 _Calm down, Peter, you don't know that yet,_ Peter reasoned with himself.

Peter followed the heroes inside the Helicarrier and to the med bay where an agent was waiting for them.

"How is he?" Steve asked as they approached the female agent.

"They just brought him into emergency surgery," The woman informed them.

"Did they say anything about his condition at all? Is there still a chance that he can be saved?" Peter couldn't help but ask.

The woman looked at him in pity and that was the first sign that caused Peter's heartbeat to accelerate.

"Hill?" Natasha raised her eyebrows in question.

"There's a probably chance that he might not make it out of this one," Agent Hill broke it to the team. "I thought you all deserved to know at least that much."

That was all Peter needed to hear before he felt his stomach drop. His vision became fuzzy and was faintly aware of someone shouting his name as the floor came up to greet him and he knew no more.

When Peter came around, the first thing that he realized was that he was lying on something soft and there was a beeping machine to his left.

"Peter? You with us, kid?" A person to his right asked

As he opened his eyes, his vision was really fuzzy and he had to blink a lot before it slowly came into focus. He looked over to see Clint sitting in a chair beside him, looking rather worried.

"What happened?" Peter groaned as he tried to sit up, but felt his head protest the moment.

"You passed out on us," Clint told him. "Scared the hell out of all of us."

Peter frowned, "I fainted?"

"The nurses think it was just the shock taking its toll," Clint smiled in sympathy. "It's a lot to take in, trust me, I know."

"How long was I out for?" Peter asked.

Clint checked his watch. "A few hours, give or take. The nurses brought you in here just to keep an eye on your heart rate. It got pretty high when you collapsed."

"Let me guess, it was the shock?" Peter predicted.

"More or less," Clint shrugged.

Peter looked around the room, seeing it oddly empty. "Where is everyone?"

"With Tony," Clint sat back in his chair, his hands resting on his lap.

Peter's eyes widened, "Is Mr. Stark okay? Where is he? Can I see him?"

"He's alive," Clint reassured the teen. "He's in a room a few doors down in the ICW."

"ICW?" Peter frowned in confusion.

Clint hesitated for a moment before he answered, "Intensive Care Wing."

Peter felt his heart began to race as his thoughts started to go a mile a minute.

"Whoa, Peter, calm down," Clint reached to put a hand on the teen's arm as the heart monitor spiked for a moment.

Peter closed his eyes as he fought to maintain his calm. When he felt his breathing become normal he glanced at the archer and mumbled, "Sorry."

"There's nothing to apologize for, Peter," Clint gave the kid's arm a comforting squeeze before letting go.

"Can I go see him?" Peter asked.

"On one condition," Clint proposed.

"I'm listening," Peter nodded.

"You eat your Jell-O first. It's been awhile since you ate," Clint compromised.

"Fine," Peter laughed.

And so Peter found himself scarfing down three tubs of Jell-O before Clint took pity on him and snuck him in a sandwich wrap.

Ten minutes later, Peter was walking down the hallway of the medical wing with Clint as they made their way towards the ICW.

"So you said Tony's okay?" Peter asked.

Clint hesitated and Peter felt his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Clint?" Peter inquired, scared of the answer.

"He's alive," Clint said slowly, as if he were being careful with the words he said.

"What does that mean?" Peter pressed.

"Peter..." Clint began.

"Clint," Peter firmly stated, stopping in front of the archer to look him in the eyes. "What does that mean?"

"He's..." Clint began before sighing. "He's in a coma, Peter."

Peter felt his eyes widen.

"Still wanna see him?" Clint asked carefully.

Peter was silent for a moment before he nodded and they continued their way.

When Peter walked into Tony's room, he had to force himself not to freeze as he saw the state that his mentor was in. The billionaire's face was a ghostly shade of pale and Tony's hair was soaked in sweat. There was faint blue glow that was coming from a device in Tony's chest; even then Peter knew what it was. In addition to the wires that were connecting the billionaire to various machines, the main thing that worried the teen the most was the breathing tube. Was Tony having trouble breathing on his own? If so, then why?

Peter didn't have time to ask the question though, because a voice brought him back to reality, "Good to see you back with us, Peter."

Peter glanced over at a very concerned Steve who was sitting at Tony's bedside, his feet resting on the edge of the bed and a sketchbook in his lap.

"How is he?" Peter asked been though he knew the answer.

"He's hanging in there," Steve replied.

There was a moment of silence in the room before Clint cleared his throat. "I'm gonna head up to the food bay and see if I can find Nat and Rhodey. Steve, you good to watch them?"

"I'm completely fine," Peter objected.

"Says the person who passed out," Clint scoffed. "Behave."

"I'm not a dog," Peter called after the archer, who was walking out of the room.

Peter went to sit on Tony's unoccupied bedside and just stared at the machines as Steve was sketching away in his notebook.

It was oddly silent in the room and Peter had a sense that it was because Steve was scared to say something that he shouldn't. To be honest, Peter had a good feeling that he knew exactly what was on the soldier's mind.

"You know, if you're gonna lecture me, you might as well just go right ahead and do it," Peter commented.

Steve didn't look up from his sketchbook. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Peter sighed, "I think we both know that's a lie."

Steve just chuckled. "There's nothing to lecture you about, Peter."

Peter blinked. "Really? No 'you're really Spider-Man?' Or 'why didn't you tell us you were Spider-Man?"

"Should I ask those questions?" Steve glanced at the hero for a second before resuming his drawings.

Maybe it was the tone in Steve's voice, but Peter felt his shoulders slumped in defeat. "How long have you known?"

"Since you're little stunt of sneaking out," Steve answered.

"You've known that long?" Peter was shocked.

"Hate to break it to you, but it was quite simple. Same mannerisms, the coincidence of you disappearing and Spider-Man appearing. We're not that blind, Peter."

"No, no, no, that's not what I'm implying at all!" Peter quickly reassure the blonde. "I was just surprised you never said anything."

"It wasn't our secret to reveal," Steve shrugged. "We knew you'd say something when you were ready."

Peter looked back and his eyes widened. "The worried friend that Pepper was talking about when she visited me..."

Steve glanced up from his work to smile sheepishly at the kid. "Guilty as charged. I got nervous and desperate when you refused to emerge from your room, let alone not talking to anyone. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Are you mad?" Peter asked, a little hesitant.

"No," Steve shook his head. "We all have our secrets, Peter. Sometimes it's better to let them come into the light on their own."

Peter just nodded before letting out a tired yawn.

"The sedatives must still be running through your system, huh?" Steve observed.

"Whatever they hit me with, I've been drowsy ever since I woke up," Peter admitted.

"They had to up the dosage so your metabolism didn't wear it away immediately." Steve nodded to the couch ph on the far end of the room. "Why don't you try to sleep them off? You're bound to feel better when you wake up."

Any other times, Peter would've put up an argument, but right now sleep sounded appealing. So, he went straight over to the couch, threw himself onto the comfy cushions and let the blackness greet him with open arms.

* * *

 **Was I evil to make you wait a week after that cliffhanger? Maybe :) I have my reasons though.**

 **Anyways, I hope y'all liked it! We're almost at the end of the story! It's so crazy!**

 **Was it good? Was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**

 _ **Sorry but no questions this time :-)**_

 __ **See you next time!**


	28. Chapter 28

By the time that Tony finally came back to the land of the living, he wasn't sure if he was even alive. Everything around him was dark and it felt like he fell out of a plane and the Hulk landed right on top of him. It took him another second for his genius brain to realize that the reason everything was dark was because his eyes were closed. It took him another moment to make out the faint, yet consistent beeping of a heart monitor in the background.

 _Shit._ Tony internally cursed. He was in the infirmary. In other words, he was ecstatic that he managed to have made it out of alive, but he really hated hospitals. Also, on top of that, he remembered everything that had happened. It's just some more unnecessary emotional baggage that he had to deal with now.

He remembered everything and he really wished he didn't. From the torture, the serums... the shrapnel being recreated... the feeling of slowly fading away from reality... it was all to much and Tony really didn't want to have to deal with everything. All in all, it really sucked.

It took him a minute until he figured out what was different about himself. There was a very faint humming sound that he had grown accustomed to, but hadn't had to deal with it since his surgery years prior.

 _Arc reactor._

"Mr. Stark?" A young, voice hesitantly asked.

Tony felt like he should know that voice. It held some recollection, but his thoughts were still a little hazy at the moment.

The voice sighed. "Take a breath, Peter, he'll come around eventually."

Peter. The kid, right. Tony built him a suit after he helped the billionaire fight Steve. Then there was the Vulture accident and the Stark Internship...

Tony groaned and tried to open his eyes. It took a lot of effort, but the dim lights helped quite a bit.

"Mr. Stark, you're awake!" Peter exclaimed excitedly. "Jesus, how are you feeling? Are you in pain? Do you need me to call in the nurse? How's you're chest? How's your head? They said you were comatose and they weren't sure how long you'd be out. It's been a few weeks, Mr. Stark! I've been so scared!"

Tony felt a headache coming on, "Kid?" He cut him off gently.

Peter shut up immediately. "Yeah?"

"Rambling." Tony fondly commented.

Peter blushed, "Oh, sorry."

It was quiet for a moment before Tony asked, "Where am I?"

"Helicarrier Infirmary." Peter replied.

"Huh," Tony was surprised. He didn't expect that answer. "How'd you do it?"

Peter folded his hands in his lap and wouldn't look at the billionaire in the face. "Found the device at the Tower. The messages."

"Oh," Tony blinked. _Well, crap._ "Forgot about those."

"I was so scared that..." Tony didn't miss they way the teen's voice quivered with emotion.

"Hey, come on, don't get all sappy on me, now," Tony tried to lighten to mood. When that didn't work, he reached over and patted the kid on the knee. "I'm serious, Peter. You did good."

Peter looked at him and gave him a watery smile.

"You said I was out for awhile?" Tony changed the subject.

Peter hastily wiped a hand down his face and nodded. "About two weeks, give or take. They said you were loaded with sedatives, severely concussed, several broken ribs, scar tissue around the lungs, broken wrist, broken collarbone, and well, you know..." Peter tapped his chest to signify the reactor.

Tony glanced down at his chest to see the glowing reactor. "Yeah," The billionaire sighed before looking back at the kid.

"The others were here for awhile too, but Natasha took Clint and Rhodey back to the compound with her," Peter informed his mentor. "Said they could all use some sleep. Directory Fury stopped by a few times."

"Eye Patch did? Well, I guess I can say that I'm flattered," Tony studied the kid for the first time. He looked exhausted. "When was the last time you got a good night's sleep?"

Peter shrugged, "Few nights ago? It's been hectic. Lots of school work, training and other stuff."

"Kid..." Tony didn't believe his excuses one bit.

"I was worried, alright?" Peter sighed. "Hate to lose a good mentor like you. Plus, May would kill me if I lost the internship again!"

"Hate to break a pretty aunt's heart," Tony smirked, tiredly.

Peter chuckled before a few minutes of silence passed over them. It was a comfortable silence. Then Peter noted, "You know, you've had someone that hasn't left your side since you got here."

Tony raised an eyebrow, "Who's that?"

Peter smiled, "I bet you could take a good guess." Peter gestured over to the other side of the room.

Tony turned his head to find a sleeping Steve on the couch in the corner of the room. The soldier looked worn down and a little restless, as if he was fighting demons in his sleep.

"You called all of them?" Reality hit Tony square in the face. They really were there. "They actually came?"

"Picked up first ring when I called him on that burner phone," Peter nodded. "He cares deeply for you, Mr. Stark. Even if he has got a funny way of showing it. They're a good family, they all care about you more than you'll ever know."

"More than I deserve," Tony remarked sadly.

"He missed you a lot," Peter continued. "He was a wreck. I guess I wasn't any better, but trust me, you're important to him. You're important to all of us."

"Kid," Tony sighed.

"Why did you do it?" Peter asked timidly.

"Do what?"

"Why didn't you call me if you knew you were going to be attacked?" Peter elaborated, hurt plain on his face. "I thought you trusted me more! I proved myself, I could've helped!"

"Kid..."

"Stop calling me a kid," Peter began to break down. "I lost Uncle Ben, I lost my parents and you're the closest thing that I have had to a father figure since then! If I lost you too... Jesus... I don't want to go through that again!"

"Peter, calm down," Tony coaxed the distressed teen.

"I could've prevented this..." Peter didn't snap out of it.

"God dammit, Peter, SHUT UP!" Tony raised his voice.

Peter's mouth closed with an audible _click_.

"In no way do I want you to blame yourself for this. This was my decision and mine alone. I didn't want you there. I wanted you far from there."

"But I could've helped!"

"Enough! There was no way I was going to put you in danger for something that I did! Hammer was my fault, Peter! You don't know what he would've done to you to get to me!" Tony confessed. "You're my damn responsibility! I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to you because of something I did."

Peter was audible shocked.

Tony felt his chest tighten and the heart monitor started to go crazy.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter grew worried.

The billionaire began to hyperventilate.

"Mr. Stark!" Peter cried out. "Help! We need help in here!"

"Tony!" A familiar voice screamed, and Tony was faintly aware of someone grabbing his hand and squeezing it for comfort, but Tony was too far gone to notice the face.

Everything grew fuzzy and he blacked out.

* * *

When Tony came around again, he was damn well glad that he didn't have an oxygen mask on. Also, he felt someone's feet propped up on the foot of his bed and he heard pencil scrapping along paper.

He opened his eyes and looked to his left, only to see Steve sketching away in a chair beside his bed.

"Steve?" Tony croaked. He cringed. Was that the best he could come up with?

Steve nearly dropped his pencil in shock, but his sketchbook did fall to the ground as Steve sat up straighter in a rush. The blonde didn't acknowledge it.

"Oh, thank god," Steve sighed in relief.

"Where's the kid?" Tony asked.

"I sent him home awhile ago to get some rest. He was a wreck after... well, yeah." Steve scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Wasn't his fault," Tony slurred sleepily.

"That's what I've been trying to tell him. He's worried about you. You two seemed to have developed quite a strong father-son like bond. Who knew you'd be the kid type, Tony." Steve smiled teasingly.

"What are you doing here, Steve?" Tony asked.

Steve's smiled dropped. "Because you're an idiot."

"I thought we established that a long time ago."

"Yeah, well it seems like you never learn."

"Learning is so old school, Cap."

"Says the engineer," Steve scoffed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

"You're unbelievable." Steve shook his head before the joking atmosphere faded away. "You wanna know why I came back? Why we all came back. Well, let's just say Peter called us. We got your messages."

Tony stiffened.

"Goodbye messages? Seriously, Tony? Goddammit, I told you to call if you need us. Why didn't you just pick up the goddamn phone and call us if you knew someone was stalking you?" Steve looked at him, his expression full of hurt.

"To be honest?" Tony sighed. "Didn't think any of you cared."

"What made you think that?" Steve was astounded

"Dunno," Tony found the bedsheets interesting.

Steve just scoffed in disbelief, "you're an idiot."

Tony frowned.

Steve bent down to look his friend straight in the eye, "Tony, I've said this once before and I'll say it again. I will keep saying it until you get it through that stubborn skull of yours. We're a family, all of us, the team, and yes that includes you. You're like a brother to me, Tony, and family fights. One fight doesn't change that easily. Yes, we might be a little shattered, but we live and we learn. You'll always have us, Tony, doesn't matter when or where."

"Even when I don't deserve it?" Tony asked hesitantly.

Steve chuckled as he sat down on the edge of Tony's bed. "Even if neither of us deserve it."

Tony nodded slightly before yawning again, already feeling drowsy. "Ugh... pain meds are messing with my sleep schedule."

Steve laughed for real this time. "Get some rest, Tony. You deserve it after all you've been through."

"What about you?" Tony frowned.

"What about me?" Steve asked.

"You should go and get some sleep too," Tony told him.

"I'll be fine," Steve waved off the comment.

"Steve," Tony insisted. "Please, get some sleep. You deserve it too."

Steve sighed. "Fine. I'll call Clint or Nat to see if they can take over for a few hours."

Tony just hummed in acknowledgement before sleep consumed him again. This time though, he knew he was safe and sound because Steve was right. They were all a little shattered, but no matter the situation, the Avengers would always be there. They would always do whatever it took to protect their family. And as far as Tony's concerned, that's the way it would always be.

* * *

 **Did you really think I would kill Tony off? Gosh, no, I don't have that in me.** **Anyways, I'm considering this to be the last chapter of this story :-)** **However, if there's enough requests, I'll add in a small Epilogue. I won't be evil :P**

 **Anyways I have a few shoutouts/announcements to make:**

 **We have surpassed 200 reviews. Thank you guys for the support it means to much to me. I hold this story close to my heart since it's the first actual fanfic that I've committed myself to writing and finishing.**

 **Thank you so much for all of the support throughout this almost 30 chapter journey. This wouldn't have been possible without your support and I just want to thank you all again.**

 **If there's enough requests I'll write an epilogue.**

 **Until then, see you guys around :-)**


	29. Epilogue

**Wow, you guys have pleasantly surprised by all the rapid requests I had gotten over this week. We hit over 15 reviews in one day. That's amazing. Anyways, you guys have requested and you shall receive. Here's the Epilogue!**

* * *

The doctors had held Tony in the infirmary for another week, to the billionaire's dismay, before the day came for him to be released. Throughout his time, though, he was never once left alone. There was always at least one person at his bedside at all time in case he ever needed anything. For that, Tony was grateful.

Peter had visited the most, and Tony had to give the kid credit for being persistent. Despite Tony's protests about schoolwork, sleep, and the kid's normal life, Peter just brushed it all aside and said he had everything under control. He felt proud in a way, but Tony would never say it out loud to the kid, because that just wasn't him. He still had to be the same person he was before all this crap happened.

That fact alone was easier said than done. Because Tony _wasn't_ the same person he had been before he was kidnapped. It was like coming back from his time in Afghanistan all over again, which was true to say the least. The two situations were quite similar despite a few differences. For one, Tony had known the true extent of what torture was. The main thing that was similar, however, was coming back home with a machine lodged in his chest. And he didn't have a say about it because that machine was the only thing that kept his heart from getting shredded. But life is life and if it's one thing that Tony had learned the hard way a long time ago, it was that life was unfair.

It had been years since Tony had dealt with the Arc Reactor and he had almost forgotten what it was like to have it in the first place.

No. That was a lie.

As much as Tony wanted to believe that he'd forgotten the feeling of the Arc Reactor, he never forgot. Something like that wasn't easily erased.

However, as Tony stood beside his hospital bed, packing up his last few belongings, he was ready to get out of that hellhole. He _really_ hated hospitals.

There was a knock on the door and Tony looked up to see Clint standing in the doorway, "You ready to go?"

"Hell yeah," Tony nodded. He reached to grab his duffle, but Clint was already there, slinging the strap onto his shoulder.

"Oh no you don't," Clint smirked, the bag comfortably resting on his shoulder.

Tony rolled his eyes, "I'm not incapable of carrying a _duffle bag_ , Barton."

"Sorry, Tony, but it's the doc's orders," Clint looked smug.

"You're an asshole," Tony crossed his arms.

"Hey, I'm not the one who came close to discharging themselves AMA," Clint shrugged.

"I didn't like the way the nurse was coming at me with a needle the size of a snake," Tony defended himself.

"It was barely an inch long," Clint scoffed.

"Yeah, well, you try having your arm stabbed against your will," Tony huffed, ignoring the redness creeping up his neck. "Are we getting out of here or what?"

Clint nodded, "The Quinjet's on the runway. Let's go, I told Steve we'd only be an hour."

"And why does the Capsicle care how long it takes?" Tony raised an eyebrow curiously.

"He doesn't," Clint replied.

The two superheroes made their way down to the Quinjet, walking in step with a comfortable silence. Tony wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was happy that the team had come when he needed them the most. More than that, he was glad that they stayed even if there was a danger behind the action. But he wasn't going to worry about those consequences now. No, right now he was going to live in the present for as long as he could.

* * *

By the time Clint had landed the Quinjet on the Compound's landing platform, Tony was eager to stretch his legs. Halfway through the ride, he felt himself getting a little restless and he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because it's been awhile since he's seen the light of day, or maybe it was because he never thought he'd get a chance to soar the skies again.

All he knew was that as he walked out of the Quinejet and onto the roof, he was so happy to breath in the fresh air.

"You okay?" Clint looked over at him, a little worried.

 _No, not really_ , Tony thought but instead said, "Yeah. It's just been awhile."

Clint nodded before saying, "Everyone's waiting inside. You need a minute?"

Tony hesitated before shaking his head, "No, lets go."

When Tony entered the compound through the rooftop staircase, he was excited. He actually felt _at home,_ which was unusual because he hasn't felt at home in a very long time. As he continued down to the main level, the last thing that he expected to see was a giant banner that read "WELCOME HOME!" It was the kind of banner that was cheesy but never failed to put a smile on your face.

Under the banner, Steve, Peter, Natasha, Rhodey, Sam, Wanda and Vision stood, beaming like idiots. Tony couldn't help by give a small smile too. They may be crazy, but they were his crazy people.

"What's this?" Tony asked as he walked further into the main room.

Peter walked up to the billionaire, "I may have convinced the others to properly greet you home."

"I guess I am a party person," Tony mused thoughtfully.

"You look like you're doing much better," Peter observed. "Do you feel alright?'

Tony couldn't help but chuckle at the kid's concern. "I'm fine, kid," Tony reached out to clap the teenager on the shoulder in a fond gesture.

"There's cake," Peter continued. "Steve and I made it from scratch."

Tony looked over at the soldier with a raised eyebrow, "Did you now?"

Steve shrugged, "I'm teaching him how to cook."

"Did you explode the oven?" Tony asked.

"Not this time," Peter smiled proudly.

"This time?" Tony frowned. "Wait... did you blow up my oven while I was gone?"

"Um... no?" The teen carefully answered.

Tony raised an eyebrow at him, but had to fight back a smile.

"Okay, once," He admitted.

"Twice," Clint corrected as he walked over to the kitchen.

"Well... alright then," Tony chuckled. "Shall we get this party started then?"

Peter just laughed before heading into the kitchen. Tony made to follow, but someone caught him by the arm. It was Steve.

"You holding up okay?" Steve asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Tony returned the question.

Steve shot him a knowing look. "Tony."

Tony just sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm not gonna break. Seriously, Cap, I can handle myself just fine."

"I never said you couldn't."

Tony's expression softened. "Seriously, Steve. I'm getting there."

"You know we're all here for you if you need to talk about it," Steve reminded him.

"And here you go getting all sappy on me again," Tony shook his head, a small smile appearing on his face without his consent.

"I'm serious," Steve crossed his arms.

Tony just looked at him with a serious face and said, "I know." Then he cleared his throat, desperate to change the subject. "Everyone's waiting and I'm starving so... cake?"

Steve just let out an exasperated chuckled and replied, "Sure, why not."

The two heroes made their way into the kitchen where Clint was annoying the heck out of Peter, but the teenager retaliated the friendly banter with his own witty remarks. Natasha looked like she was so done with both of them. Wanda was chatting with Vision, who seemed to be interested in what she was saying. Rhodey and Sam were also engaged in a conversation about Sam's suit. Steve took a seat beside them and joined in.

Tony scanned the room before him and suddenly realized why he had suddenly felt like he was home.

Everyone gathered at that table, bantering like siblings or relatives, well it was kind of hard not to think of them as a family.

No, they were _Tony's family_. And that's something that Tony wouldn't change for the world.

* * *

 **I hope that you guys were pleased with the Epilogue, I thought it was a sweet way to wrap up the ties and leave it be for now. All I know is that if I hadn't cut off when I did then I could've gone on forever :P**

 **Thank you all for the amazing reviews and support that you have given this story throughout its progress. You guys were my main motivators and I couldn't have done this without you.**

 **A few people have PMed me about whether or not there was a possibility of a sequel. The answer? Maybe eventually if I come up with something but right now I'm gonna focus on different writing projects :-)**

 **I will guarantee that there will be more Tony-centric fics in the future, those won't go away but I'm also exploring other fandoms too. Those fandoms include: Supernatural, Kingdom Hearts, Mortal Instruments/Shadowhunters, etc.**

 **See you guys around!**

 **Was it good? Was it bad? Feel free to let me know!**


	30. Sneak Peek

Tony felt himself tossing and turning as he slept. In his dream, he found himself wandering through a hallway full of mirrors. It was rather weird, if he had to be honest with himself, and that's also considering the fact that he knew he wasn't exactly at "poster boy" health. Glancing into one of the mirrors, Tony froze when he saw it was one of his most vivid memories of him and his mother. It was Christmas Day and she was taking him skiing for the first time. Dad was god-knows-where and Tony remembered it to be one of his most favorite days that he has treasured for a long time. And then suddenly… things went gray and the image before him began to fade, as if the memory was being sucked out of his mind… until it was gone and Tony was wondering why he was staring at an empty mirror, an empty feeling forming in his heart.

 _I'm coming for you Stark, and I'm gonna take everyone you've ever loved away until you're nothing._

Tony woke with a start, sweat dripping down his face, and littlest did he know that one of his memories was nothing but dust.

* * *

 **What is this? Well... I'll give you a bit of a hint. It's a sneak peak of something you guys may have been waiting for since I last uploaded the epilogue. It's a 6 letter word starts with an S and ends with an L.**

 **Take a guess of what you think it is in the reviews. More details will be coming soon (I have a title but I ain't telling you yet :P you can guess if you want)**

 **Until next time :)**


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